7 Days of Detention
by JealousDragon
Summary: Draco and Hermione get a week of detention together. And that leads to an interesting turnout of events :) Who knew detention could be fun? R&R please! :)
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I have black hair. J. has blonde. Therefore, I'm not J.K. Rowling and I don't own Harry Potter. **

**A/N: Bonjour! I wrote this because I just thought one day: My OTP is Dramione…why haven't I written anything Dramione, then? So I took out my laptop and started typing and this is the one-shot I came up with. It's just for fun! So enjoy ****:)**

Draco Malfoy did what he had been doing for a week, at least. He gazed upon Hermione Granger (or Mudblood know-it-all as he liked to call her) and observed her. Simply observed her with no hatred or any such feeling.

He noticed how her hair was so much less bushier than it had been in their first year and how it cascaded down her slender back in pretty brown curls. He also saw how her eyes were always so bright, despite being brown, it was almost blinding. He didn't fail to see how petite and prett –okay looking she was now, in their sixth year.

Draco then realized what he was thinking and scolded and cursed himself.

This, exactly, was what had been happening for the past week or so. He admired Granger at the Gryffindor table at mealtimes, then he scolded himself and vowed never to do it again and then much to his dismay, thought about her the entire day. Not that these thoughts were necessarily pleasant. Most of them were bitter blaming Granger for his recent ignorance to studies but sometimes, just _sometimes, _he briefly allowed himself to think that Granger was not that bad a person, after all. But then he would regret it immediately, shuddering at the image of what his father would say if he knew. As much as Draco hated the man who claimed to be his father, he wasn't on his own yet. Just a couple more years and Draco would show him.

Everyday, this exact same thing happened and Draco was getting slightly sick of this entire process. He didn't know what had caused this, neither was he curious. He wasn't sure if he'd like the answer. It had just happened gradually…

Draco wasn't saying he was madly in love with Granger. Merlin, no! He still hated her (he doubted _that _would ever change) and he enjoyed bugging her but he guessed he was finding her less and less infuriating every time he laid eyes on her. He was slowly acknowledging her silent, bookwormish beauty which few people seemed to notice.

Take Weasley for example. She was right in front of him and he was daft enough not to grab at the opportunity (not that Draco thought of women like that. Just saying). That is what Slytherins were all about: _never miss an opportunity. _You don't want to regret anything later.

If Draco were in Weasley's place, he would've made a dash at Granger before Victor Krum could even stammer a word to her and claim her heart… but maybe that's why Weasley wasn't in Slytherin. Not to mention the fact, he didn't have an ounce of cunningness in him and Draco was thankful to God for that.

He didn't think Potter would ever have feelings for Granger, he was far too much infatuated with Weasley Junior. It was written all over his face. The idiot was so pathetically lovesick, Draco almost pitied him. _ALMOST. _But Ginny never noticed. Draco thought, perhaps, being stupid as a rock was a Weasley trait.

But anyway, this particular morning, while Draco was _observing _Granger (that's what he told himself), she caught his eye. Their eyes locked for a nanosecond too long and they both looked away instantly. The same thing happened for the next eight days…the nanoseconds increasing to microseconds to milliseconds to seconds to finally half a minute.

Draco was getting quite used to it and looked forward to it. It was like something secret and special between him and Granger. Last night, he had even flashed a smirk her way and believe it or not, she had looked rather flushed. Because of anger or something else, Draco did not want to know.

On the ninth day though, at breakfast when Granger refused to look at him and start their secret little staring competition, Draco knew something was wrong. Either she simply chose to ignore him or she had told Potter and Weasley and they were now waiting to beat him to a pulp the moment he stepped outside of the Great Hall and sure enough, they were nowhere to be seen. There was just Granger and mini- Weasley, chatting animatedly.

Draco gulped nervously. He suddenly realized he was eating his breakfast slower than usual, not in a hurry to leave. At all. Not if it could save his pretty face. But no matter how slowly he ate, his breakfast had to finish sometime. He took a deep breath and headed for the exit.

As soon as he stepped out, he expected his nose to start bleeding any moment or have one of his teeth knocked out. But surprisingly, no such thing happened. Instead, he heard footsteps and saw Granger emerge , her ponytail flying behind her.

She took one of his arms and pinned him against the hard and cold wall. She looked up at him dangerously, hot fire in her otherwise kind eyes.

"Oooh," Draco hooted, "Nice, Granger. Never knew you were so straightforward."

She pushed him harder against the stone wall and Draco could swear she had superhuman strength.

"Shut up! Tell me, why are you doing it?" she asked, her voice deathly low.

He looked at her lazily, one of his eyebrows raised, "Excuse me?"

"Oh, stop pretending! Why do you keep looking at me, Malfoy? What has your evil mind been plotting this time?" she asked.

She obviously didn't expect him to answer so easily because she looked rather taken aback when he drawled, "You're pretty, Granger. And I'm a teenage boy. Of course I stare. You ought to be used to it by now."

She took a sudden step back and gaped at him. She had been expecting a hex and not a…_compliment. _

Draco seemed to be liking the effect his words were having on her.

"You're kidding, right?" she asked, disbelief evident in her voice.

He put up her hands and said seriously, "Wouldn't dare."

"But then…" she wondered loudly, "no one else stares…" then she noticed the devilish grin playing on Malfoy's lips and she knew. She just knew.

She hit his arm (not hard, he noticed) and exclaimed, "Draco Malfoy! You never learn, do you?"

At that, he started cracking up clutching his stomach.

"It's not funny, Malfoy," she said but then seemed to think better of it and mumbled, "I'm going to class."

"Aw come on Granger!" Draco called, "I was just playing…you're awfully gullible, you know?"

"Oh, I'm sure," she muttered as she pushed past him to go to the dungeons for Potions.

Malfoy of course, being an insufferable git, followed her. All the way, he passed comments at her which she expressionlessly ignored, primly making her way to his favourite class.

When they finally reached the dungeon door, both stood still and silent, Draco out of comments and Hermione out of breath. Hermione glared at him. Malfoy, just gleefully grinned.

"Go away," she said, "You're making me uncomfortable."

"Obviously. I have that effect on women but most seem to enjoy it," he said stroking his chin as if in deep thought.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Shut up," she said, irritated, "You're such a prat."

She made a move to enter the dungeons but Draco grabbed her arm in a swift motion and pulled her awfully close to him, their faces just inches apart. She stared up at him, shocked and a strange kind of tingling going up her body. His metallic grey eyes looked into her chocolate brown ones, a small smile on his face but instead of going for her lips, he leaned and gently kissed her cheek and whispered softly in her ear, "I'll be in the Astronomy Tower."

With a flirtatious wink, Draco Malfoy bounded up the stairs, leaving a very confused Hermione Granger behind.

Fin!

**A/N: I could continue this if ya'll want...but no guarantees! ;) And I know the characters were really OOC in here but of course they were! I'm not J.K. Rowling :P**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Though it's my deepest wish, I still don't own Harry Potter.**

**A/N: I was in a mood to continue this further and the conclusion is: I'm not capable of keeping a fic at one-sh**ot :P

**Thank you so much Vampiregirl1312 and jeny3329! :)**

**I'm changing the name and summary of the story as I've decided a whole new plot for it :D**

**Chapter Two**

Hermione couldn't believe she was actually skiving off a class just to meet with someone. Draco Malfoy no less! What was wrong with her? And the class she was skipping was Snape's. He would be livid and won't stand back in taking points from Gryffindor and giving her nasty detentions. Had it been a Slytherin, he wouldn't even have brought the issue up!

She would also miss today's topic Snape would be teaching –What if it came on the exam and she couldn't answer due to bunking the class? It was absolutely scandalous!

Despite knowing all this, Hermione still made her way to Astronomy Tower because she just couldn't help it! Malfoy's sudden change in behaviour towards her had piqued her curiosity. Her main goal was to find out what he was up to and warn her friends, especially Harry if she found anything suspicious but even though she hated admitting it, there was a small hopeful part of her which wanted to find out what had caused his sudden playful nature towards her –a lowly mudblood –almost like they were…friends.

I mean it wasn't, like, exactly hopeful…it was more like…fine okay, it was hopeful. The truth was that even though she hadn't told this to anyone ever, but the first time she had seen Malfoy and his confident swagger and that superior air around him, Hermione had wanted to be friends with him but when she had seen how arrogant he was, she had stood back and decided she didn't want such a rude boy as her friend. And though he had matured over the years, he was still an annoying git.

Her mind was scolding her but her legs were still defiantly moving up the stairs of Astronomy Tower. After many huffs and puffs of her breathless lungs, she finally reached the top and groaned.

There he was. Malfoy. Leaning against the wall looking so smug and pleased with himself, Hermione had a sudden, very strong urge to slap him. He looked unsurprised and unfazed like he had been completely sure she would come, that Hermione could hardly stand it.

But what she didn't know was that under his expert façade that always helped him hide his emotions, Draco was feeling very restless and anxious. He did not understand why he was flirting pathetically with Mudblood Granger. He was mostly disgusted with himself , seriously suspicious someone had put the Imperius Curse on him but he couldn't pretend there wasn't a part of him which was enjoying it. So he stopped being logical for once and went along with it…

"I hope you didn't have any difficulty coming up here," he said and smirked, "Couldn't resist me, could you?"

Hermione narrowed her eyes. What was up with Malfoy today? "Let's not bother with niceties and get to the point. What do you want with me?" she asked flatly.

He frowned. "I don't _want _anything. Seriously, if I wanted anything, I'd just buy it. I'm not a Weasley, I'm a Malfoy."

Hermione gritted her teeth and clenched her fists, trying to keep calm and take this out peacefully without hexing the hell out of him.

"I suggest you don't go there, Malfoy" Hermione muttered dangerously, "or the consequences could be severe…"

He laughed and leaned in close to Hermione's ears, "What if" he whispered softly, "I'm ready to bear the consequences?"

Hermione took a step back and stared at him, wide-eyed. She just couldn't believe it. She was almost sure this wasn't Draco Malfoy at all!

"You…you" she sputtered, "Why are you like this?!"

He smirked in that annoying way which got on Hermione's nerves.

"I do tend to make people speechless, don't I?" Malfoy said smugly, "I suppose it has something to do with my subtle wits and charm."

Hermione glared at him. "I'm asking you again, Malfoy, why did you call me here?"

"You see, Granger" he said casually examining his fingernails, "I'm starting to think you're" he thought of the right word and continued, "…interesting."

"What!" Hermione exclaimed, "I'm breaking school rules and I'm missing a very important class and I'm going to have a detention probably and I'd have a hundred marks taken from Gryffindor so it'd be better if you give me something more than 'interesting'!"

"I'm sorry, Granger" he said suavely, "But alas! That's the only explanation I have."

Hermione shook her head in amazement. Had someone told her this was ever going to happen, she would've laughed hysterically and referred them to St. Mungo's. But it was happening. And it was real. Hermione decided she had better forget this bizarre incident before she went mad and get on with her life.

"Well," she said stiffly, "if you don't have anything to say, I'd better go."

"Wait!" Draco exclaimed and instinctively caught her hand, "Don't go!"

She raised one of her eyebrows, "Why ever not?"

He sighed, frustrated. "Just don't," he said stubbornly.

Hermione, now quite mad, leaned in and hissed in his ear, "Look Malfoy, I'm positive there's something wrong with you but sadly, I don't care enough to want to know what it is. So leave me alone and I'll forget this ever happened."

The part of Draco that wasn't listening noticed she smelled rather nice and not like mud or filth like he'd been expecting all his life.

When she pulled away, she looked coldly in his eyes for an answer. He inhaled sharply and allowed his little sane part to take over. "Alright, Granger. But," he said sternly, " Don't dare tell this to anyone, okay?"

At Hermione's slight nod, he looked away and moved to look at the beautiful view from the Astronomy Tower.

Hermione was shocked. She hadn't expected Malfoy to let her off so easy. And that was the moment. That was the moment she finally noticed Draco Malfoy.

She noticed how lean and well-toned he was and his silky platinum hair was rather unique. She remembered how his eyes, if cold, were a beautiful grey. She finally noticed how the ferret had turned into a handsome young man. As much as she hated to admit it, Hermione couldn't say she blamed all the pitiful Slytherin girls who were more than once, seen all over him. She couldn't believe she actually thought Draco Malfoy was good-looking.

She was snapped back to reality when Malfoy drawled without even turning around, "I know you must be enjoying staring at me but right now, I'd like some time alone, if you don't mind."

Hermione was sure she was blushing and thankful to Merlin he couldn't see her. Without another word, she descended down the steps of Astronomy Tower.

She didn't go to Potions. Instead Hermione quietly went to the library for some extra study of History of Magic but her mind wasn't on it. It was just stuck like glue on one person.

_Elves and goblins are able to perform magic without wands. Goblins sometimes refer to witches and wizards as 'wand bearers'…_

As soon as she looked away, Hermione couldn't remember what she had read.

"Damn you, Malfoy" she muttered as she thumped her book close as she realized another attempt at studying would be futile.

The bell rang announcing the end of Potions. Hermione was actually relieved as she thought the next class would take her mind off things.

How wrong she was.

Hermione didn't have the next class, which was Arithmancy, with Harry and Ron. And to be honest, she was _really _glad. She didn't know how she would answer their impending questions about skiving Potions yet. She'd have to make up some excuse.

She simply couldn't tell them what she'd really been doing. They would be furious –not to mention they would think she had gone mad.

And thinking that her beloved subject Arithmancy would take her mind off things, she was wrong because whatever Professor Vector was saying was going over the top of Hermione's head. Well, that was a first.

She sighed, struggling to concentrate but couldn't.

After class, Ron and Harry rushed up to her and hugged her, nearly cracking her ribs.

"Hermione!" they cried in unison, "Where were you? Why weren't you Potions? Snape was furious! Are you all right?"

Hermione smiled, touched by her friends' concern.

"I'm fine, guys," she said calmly and smoothly made up an excuse, "I was feeling under the weather so I got up late. I went to Madam Pomfrey and she gave me some potion to drink and told me to rest. I'm fine now though."

Harry and Ron seemed to swallow up the lie easily and Hermione heaved an inward sigh of relief.

"Oh," said Harry, "Well, you'd better be careful. Snape looked about ready to explode. He questioned us and when we told him we didn't know where you were, he took fifteen points from Gryffindor saying that we were lying!"

"That slimy git," Ron added bitterly.

As they made their way to Care of Magical Creatures, Hermione hoped to Merlin they didn't confront Snape on the way. But Merlin was a Slytherin and she was a Gryffindor. Since when did Slytherins start listening to Gryffindors?

As a result, Snape did confront them. A sneer formed on his face and he looked even uglier than usual. His stark black eyes bored into Hermione's warm, brown ones.

"Potter, Weasley," he addressed Harry and Ron without breaking eye contact with Hermione, "I'd like to have a word with Ms. Granger. You two may proceed to your next class."

Harry and Ron both flashed Hermione sympathetic glances and went away without another word.

"I'd like to get straight to the point as I don't have much time to spare," Snape said and continued, "Why weren't you present in class this morning, Ms. Granger?"

Hermione gulped and started to say something but Snape put up his hand and grimaced. "No. Don't answer that. I'd rather not hear your lousy attempts at excuses."

"But Sir…" Hermione started but her cut her off yet again, "Thirty points will be taken from Gryffindor for inexcusable behaviour as well as a week's worth of detention." Then he saw something and barked, "Malfoy!"

Draco looked up. He had been discreetly making his way to Herbology with Ravenclaws but Snape had called him. And he was with Granger. Draco groaned inwardly.

Once he reached Snape and Granger he asked, "You wanted to see me, Sir?"

Snape's nasty sneer widened and Hermione suddenly had a very bad feeling about this.

"I didn't fail to notice you weren't in today's first period Potions either, Mr. Malfoy. You will serve a week's worth of detention as well."

Both Hermione and Draco were shocked. Snape rarely deducted points from his own house, let alone gave any of them _detention! _And this was Draco Malfoy, Slytherin Prince. What was wrong with everyone today?

"Mr Malfoy, all the prefects shall be suspended from their duties for a week and instead you and Ms. Granger will fill up for them including night patrols," Snape said and then added as an afterthought, "Yes, that should serve you two well."

He then sauntered away, his cloak billowing behind him.

Instead of looking distraught and disgusted, like Hermione would've expected him to, Draco looked mildly curious. He turned to Hermione and smirked surreptitiously and his eyes flashed.

Hermione involuntarily gulped.

"Well, well Granger," he said, "this should be interesting."

**A/N: Please read and review! It would mean a lot to me! And sorry if the updates take long, I'm working on one other story right now...Your patience will be whole-heartedly appreciated :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson. I don't own Divergent. I don't own Mortal Instruments. Oh, and I also don't own Harry Potter. **

**A/N: I'm back guys! I'm sorry for the delay! :/ And yes, I did start this as a one-shot but now I've decided to continue it! :D**

**Thank you so much for the reviews BettyBoopFan123, Bookaholism, RandomGerman, jessica and **  
Sorceress of Magic!

By the way, Bookaholism: Can you look past the factual errors for once? And Dramione can't happen if everyone isn't OOC -_-

Now without further ado, on with the chapter...

**Chapter Three**

Hermione refused to talk to anyone the rest of the day and when classes were finished, she stomped up to the Gryffindor Common Room, snapped the password at the Fat Lady and went inside with Harry and Ron behind her calling, "Hermione! Talk to us!"

Before they could catch up to her, she immediately went up the stairs to the Girls' Dormitories. As soon as she saw her bed, she plopped herself down on it and let out a frustrated, muffled scream.

Parvati and Lavender, who had been in the middle of apparently very interesting gossip, shot Hermione looks of annoyance and disappeared down to the Common Room.

Hermione again let out an exasperated groan.

At that moment, Ginny Weasley came out of the bathroom and looked at Hermione strangely. "You okay, Hermione?"

Normally, Hermione was very composed and down to Earth. She became flustered went out of rhythm very rarely. This was one of the rare moments. And Ginny was determined to find out what had caused it. She hated to see her friend in distress. It wasn't natural of Hermione Granger.

"No!" she moaned, "I'm not okay Ginny! I'm doomed, my life is over!"

Ginny sat down beside her and put arm around Hermione's shoulder. "Hermione. Will you tell me what's wrong?"

Hermione looked at her, debating whether she should tell Ginny. She was one of her best friends and she was girl but she did have a very quick temper. If she knew Hermione had skipped class to meet up with Malfoy, she would have a field day. Possibly go insane. So Hermione decided to tell her part of the story.

"Snape," Hermione muttered.

"Snape, what? No, don't answer that. Did that greasy haired git take points from Gryffindor just because you answered a question, right?" Ginny asked angrily.

Hermione was appalled. I mean, Professor Snape was her least favourite teacher but he was still a teacher. "Ginny!" she exclaimed, "That's a teacher you're talking about!"

"Who cares?" she said.

Hermione rolled her eyes and sighed. "Whatever. But no, that's not it. Snape…he –he gave me a week's worth of detention!"

Ginny gasped. "What?!"

"That's not the half of it. He gave me a week's worth of detention _with Malfoy_!" Hermione cried, "Can you believe it? How am I supposed to survive?"

That wasn't quite the truth. Although Hermione _was_ upset that she'd gotten detention with Malfoy, she wasn't that worried about surviving. With how he'd been lately added with his witty, if somewhat superior, sense of humour, Hermione might even have some fun.

_Whoa! _She thought, _I did NOT just think that! I will NEVER have fun with Malfoy! That's absurdity! _

She put a stopper to her mind before she could think more of that very disturbing thought.

Ginny snapped Hermione out of her thoughts when she retorted, "That's mad! He can't just give you a week of detention with Malfoy because he has a never-ending grudge against Gryffindor! Hermione, you've got to report this."

Hermione massaged her head. This was turning out to be the worst day of the year. She didn't want to have to do this, but Ginny left her no choice.

"Ginny, actually there was some fault of mine," Hermione said silently.

She scoffed, "Yeah if answering a question right is called a fault."

"No, you don't understand. I haven't even told this to Harry and Ron, Ginny. They'll be furious!" said Hermione.

"Hermione," Ginny said now looking somewhat worried, "What did you do? You can tell me."

"Please don't be mad, Gin," Hermione pleaded and when Ginny nodded, she took a deep breath and blurted out, "I skipped Potions because I went to meet Malfoy at the Astronomy Tower."

Ginny's jaw dropped to the floor and her eyes were wide as saucers. "Say that again," she squeaked.

Hermione gulped. "I skived off Potions. To meet with Malfoy. In the Astronomy Tower."

"Merlin's Beard, Hermione! Why did you do that?" Ginny exclaimed, "Did he threaten you? Please tell me he threatened you! He won't escape my Bat Bogey hex, that ferret!"

Ginny stood up but Hermione pulled on her arm and she sat back down. "No. He didn't threaten me. Okay, let me start from the beginning. Promise you won't be mad, Ginny."

Ginny thought for a second, then nodded hesitantly, chewing on her lower lip.

"Alright," began Hermione, "this morning, I caught Malfoy staring at me. I got suspicious and decided to confront him after breakfast. But I didn't expect what happened, Ginny! He called me pretty! Then he laughed and said he was joking with me. Seriously, since when did Malfoy start _joking _with me? So I decided to ignore him and went to Potions. He followed me with taunts but they weren't so harsh, they were almost like… playful."

"Please don't me tell this conversation is going where I think it's going," Ginny interrupted, looking pale.

Hermione shrugged and continued, "Then when I was about to enter the classroom, he grabbed my hand and kissed my cheek. Then he whispered in my ear that he'll be in the in the Astronomy Tower.

Hermione couldn't continue further. Ginny looked white as a ghost. "And you went to the Astronomy Tower? Why?"

"I don't know! I just had the urge!" Hermione moaned.

"You shouldn't have Hermione. He could've hurt you," Ginny said quietly. Hermione was glad she wasn't angry. When mad, Ginny turned into a younger version of Mrs. Weasley and that intimidated people very much.

"I know. I know what I did was stupid. But he didn't hurt me. I even thought –I even though I might've seen the inner him," Hermione said nervously. Well, it was the truth but she wasn't about to tell Ginny that Hermione thought Malfoy was good-looking.

"What are you talking about, Hermione? Malfoy doesn't have an _inner side. _He doesn't have an ounce of goodness. He's up to something! I swear Hermione, that sick prat is up to something! You should be alert. He might try something on you."

Hermione ignored the little part of her that thought otherwise and nodded slightly, "You're right, Gin. He's probably up to something. I was stupid to think he might've changed. He's never going to change. I'll be wary of him, keep a lookout."

Ginny smiled and patted Hermione's back. "Good. You have too good a heart Hermione. You try to see goodness in everybody but some people never change. Like Malfoys. Come on. We should head for dinner."

Hermione nodded and stood up. Then both girls resumed to their normal selves and went to dinner, laughing and joking like always.

Little did they know that this particular Malfoy _was _on the brink of changing.

"Granger," Draco acknowledged the bushy haired girl as she met him in front of the statue of the one-eyed witch, "You're late."

"Well, forgive me for finishing my Potions homework so that I don't get another week of detention," Granger said, her eyes narrowed.

"Merlin," he muttered, "You're such a stuck up know-it-all."

"How in the world does this make me a know-it-all?"

"It doesn't," Draco said flatly, "I just felt like insulting you."

"Well," Hermione glared at him, "the next time you feel like insulting me, tell me so I can hex you."

"Thanks but no thanks," he drawled.

"You're such a git, Malfoy. I hope you burn in hell," Hermione spat.

"If I do, I won't forget to take you along with me," he said, smirking.

"How dare you, you evil –" but Hermione was interrupted by someone 'tsk-tsk'ing.

"Oh, Professor McGonagall," Hermione gasped and straightened up.

Malfoy just shook his head at her and smirked some more.

_Merlin, _he thought, _Granger is just something else._

"Well," McGonagall said, "if you two will kindly stop bickering, I would like to put forward some rules for this detention. As you can see, this is very unusual but Professor Snape believes you deserve it for missing class," she looked sharply at Hermione and she looked down, her face furiously red, "And I couldn't disagree with him. Now, seen as you both have uh…a rivalry, we have decided to confiscate your wands. Instead you'll get these bewitched wands which won't allow you to hurt one another. You will, however, get your original wands back once the patrol is finished. Hand over your wands to me, please."

Hermione timidly gave hers to McGonagall while Draco did whist wearing a disgusted expression. Hermione rolled her eyes at him.

Then McGonagall handed them the bewitched wands which didn't look any different than the ordinary ones. Hermione eyes lit up. She couldn't wait to cast a spell with them and learn more about them. Draco, however, just looked bored.

"As soon as you finish your patrols, Mr. Malfoy and Ms. Granger, you are to immediately come to my office. If any student from any house is found lurking around past curfew, you're allowed to take points from them and see to it that they safely reach their respective houses. I expect a mature behaviour from the two of you."

She looked sternly at both of them and her gaze turned somewhat sympathetic when she looked at Hermione. Then she left without another word.

"Come on, Granger," Draco said, "Let's get this over with."

**A/N: Okay, I know this chapter didn't contain much but I assure you future chapters will ****:)**

**I'm sorry, though, to inform you that I can't update till after twelfth of March :/**

**But after that, I'm going to treat you with a nice long chapter :D**

**Choco chip cookies to whoever reviews! ****:)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Only one person in the world owns Harry Potter. And it's not me. It's Rowling.**

**A/N: Thank you for taking the time to leave me reviews: HallowRain8587, Sorceress of Magic, BettyBoopFan123, Allie and Guest! Your reviews mean SO, SO MUCH!**

**Okay, so I lied about the big chapter thingy but to make up for that, I'm posting this chapter a day early. You can't be mad at me, right? : )**

**I hope. **

**Now this chapter just explains their first night of detention. And I don't know how you'll find it. Well, whatever…**

**Here we go…**

**Chapter Four**

Awkward. That was the perfect word to describe what both Hermione and Draco were feeling. Though neither of them were admitting it and continued with their pointless bickering, they both felt it but were waiting for the other to bring it up. Bring what up, you ask?

The Astronomy Tower incident of course!

It was nearly one thirty in the morning. They still had to patrol for another hour and a half. They couldn't wait for three 'o clock to come. It wasn't that they weren't enjoying each other's company. They were, just too proud, stubborn and clueless to admit it. But they also wanted to escape this awkward tension which seemed to have formed between them.

Both the parties blamed the one and only Draco Malfoy for it.

Draco was trying very hard to keep up with his sophisticated Malfoy façade but he was finding it more difficult with every passing second. There also wasn't any suspicious activity to distract them. The castle was eerily quiet. It felt like suddenly the whole school had decided to switch to law-abiding students. And Draco and Hermione detested them for it.

They were passing the Gryffindor Common Room for the millionth time that night but the Fat Lady took no notice of them. Every time they did, Hermione felt like screaming the password and disappear inside the safety of the warm and familiar common room rather than roam the cold halls of Hogwarts with the equally cold Draco Malfoy.

While some snored, some of the portraits were flashing Hermione and Draco suspicious looks. One of them also had the nerve to comment, "I've never seen the two of you patrol together. Are you sure you aren't up to something?" He had effectively shut up when both of them cast him deathly glares.

Then there was this painting of a dazed looking girl who had remarked, "You two look lovely together! What a nice couple!" Hermione and Draco had nearly gagged and rushed to tell her they were nothing more than enemies who were being forced to work together. The girl in the painting looked very disappointed but she suddenly brightened and quoted, "Opposites attract". Hermione and Draco had groaned to her realizing reasoning with her would be futile and they would just be wasting their time.

As time passed, their anxiety and discomfort increased. Hermione was trying spells with her new wand and "ooh"-ed everytime one worked. She also pouted when some didn't, like, "Oppugno" or "Incedio". Draco rolled his eyes at her irritably.

"Granger," he said, "It's just a wand. I know you hadn't seen one till your eleventh birthday but please. It's your sixth year at Hogwarts as a witch. Just get over it."

She sent him a glare that could kill but didn't say anything. Draco smirked to himself, pleased.

He also, however, was getting on Hermione's nerves. He just couldn't walk still. He just had to do something with his hands which Hermione found extremely distracting. He was so impatient and hyper, it seemed like he had consumed large doses of caffeine before coming to patrol. He was just constantly doing something like tapping his foot, running his hands through his hair, balancing his wand on one finger or sometimes cracking his knuckles.

"Stop it!" Hermione finally snapped.

"What?" he asked, eyeing her like she was a madwoman.

"Stop playing with your hands or tapping your foot or cracking your knuckles! It's so infuriatingly distracting!" she said angrily.

He smirked at her, "So you find me distracting?"

"God Malfoy! You're unbelievable!" Hermione lamented.

Draco pretended like she hadn't said anything, "I'm sorry to break this to you, Granger but I'm not interested in you."

"That's okay. I'll live. You meanwhile, stop distracting me. Can't you just walk? Simply walk?" Hermione asked.

"I could. But nah, I like bugging you more," he said and flashed her an annoying smirk.

"It certainly didn't seem like that at the Astronomy Tower yesterday," Hermione muttered then immediately scolded her for it. She hadn't intended to say that but it just slipped and now she was going to have to deal with the consequences. The consequences being Malfoy.

He stopped in his tracks, his grey gaze suddenly dead serious, "What? What did you just say?"

Hermione nervously shrugged and kept walking. He rashly caught her arm and turned her to look directly into his furious eyes.

"You said you wouldn't tell!" he said, trying to keep his increasing anger in check.

"I said I wouldn't tell. And I haven't. Although I didn't say I wouldn't mention it," Hermione said matter-of-factly then her gaze softened, "What _was _that all about, Malfoy? What exactly happened at the Astronomy Tower?"

For a second his eyes revealed a lot of emotions, most of them impossible to place. But then he realized what was going on and quickly put his defence guards up. He let go of her arm and shrugged. "Nothing. I was just messing with you. I was bored."

"No!" Hermione insisted, "Something is up. You just won't tell me."

He didn't respond. Instead he said far too cheerfully, "Oh Merlin. We should head back."

Hermione glanced at her watch. The small hand was on two and the big one on six. "It's just two thirty."

"Who cares, Granger? Live a little," he said and started making his way to the dungeons.

"Malfoy! Stop right there! Don't you dare go anywhere!" Hermione called after him but he took no notice of her and just whistled a tune as he disappeared down the stairs to the Slytherin dungeons.

_The hell was that all about? _Hermione thought, _Malfoy's so, so –ugh!_

She almost screamed in frustration then a thought made its way into her mind. She grinned evilly to herself. They were supposed to meet Professor McGonagall after their patrol. She wondered what the teacher would say if Malfoy wasn't there. Nothing pleasant, Hermione guessed.

Then she laughed to herself and there was a skip in her step as she finished the rest of the patrol alone.

Hermione couldn't deny she kind of missed Malfoy and his smart aleck comments. I mean it was a big castle which was spooky at night with all the student body sleeping. His presence just lightened the mood up a bit, that's all. It wasn't that she liked him. It was just the simple pleasure of company even if the company was an idiot, arrogant, conniving, rude, proud, self-obsessed and insufferable Slytherin blond git who was somewhat hot.

WHOA! Nononononono…She DID NOT just think that. _Get a grip on yourself, Hermione. _

Her eyelids were getting very heavy by the time it was time for her to report to Professor McGonagall's office. Without *ahem* Malfoy there.

Hermione made her way to the office, an evil little smile playing on her lips. She could just imagine what his face would look like when he got another week of detention for not following a teacher's direct orders. And without her this time.

She saw that it was ten minutes past three on her wristwatch when she reached the Transfiguration teacher's office. Hermione swore under her breath.

Hermione Granger, star student and potential Head Girl was NOT late whenever a teacher called her. This was scandalous! Hermione couldn't believe it.

She knocked on the door and when she heard a distant but clear, "Come in," she pushed open the heavy oak doors and made her way inside. Upon entering though, the sight that met her eyes was not what she had been expecting. It was exactly the opposite actually.

Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped to the floor when she saw a very blond head sitting in one of the two chairs in front of the teacher's desk. It was undoubtedly Draco bloody Malfoy's. Hermione just stood there at the doorway, gaping at the back of his head.

McGonagall cleared her throat and said, "Yes, Ms Granger. Do come in. I'm surprised by your tardiness. Mr Malfoy here, on the other hand arrived exactly on time. You two weren't patrolling together, I suppose?"

Hermione quickly regained her composure and sat on the chair beside Malfoy. He was looking annoyingly smug, as always but what surprised her was that he didn't look a bit frazzled. He didn't look like he'd just returned from his dorm after a quick nap. He looked just like he was supposed to, if he'd finished his patrol responsibly. You know, the right amount of sleepiness behind his eyes although definitely awake but nevertheless, tired. Just like, she supposed, she was looking right then. How he managed to do that, she had no idea.

He really was a wonder, Malfoy.

While Hermione just blinked in response to McGonagall's question, Draco swiftly and confidently answered, "Yes Professor. Hermione and I thought it'd be easier to keep an eye out if we split up."

The only thing Hermione was capable of thinking at the moment was –_Merlin's blasted beard! Did Draco Git Malfoy just call me Hermione, which is in case someone doesn't know, my first name? When the hell did we get on first name basis? _Something was seriously wrong with Malfoy's head and she'd have to inspect closely than she'd thought she'd have to.

McGonagall nodded, believing him, "Clever thinking on your part, both of you. I'm surprised you two cooperated with each other. There were no problems, I'm guessing?"

When Draco said, "Not at all, Ma'am," McGonagall smiled fleetingly and said, "I'm glad. Now I know you must be tired and since you have a whole day of classes ahead, I'll return you your original wands without further delay."

Draco and Hermione handed McGonagall their bewitched wands and in return, gave them their original ones. Hermione still hadn't said anything, not even apologized to Professor McGonagall for her tardiness which she'd had every intention to do. Before finding Malfoy in the office, that is. 

McGonagall looked suspicious but sighed and said, "You two may return to your common rooms now. The Prefect Meeting this afternoon has of course, been cancelled. Instead, you two will meet Professor Snape after lunch for further discussion. Now off you go."

Wordlessly, they left the office. Once they were outside and had closed the door behind them Draco turned to Hermione and said, "I know I'm supposed to be the Slytherin here but that was pretty rude, what you did back there."

Hermione reacted like he hadn't said anything. She pointed a finger at him accusingly, "You –you, how did you that!? You left! Merlin, I _saw _you leave! You're unbelievable, Malfoy! Damn!"

He didn't say anything. Just smirked and winked at her before disappearing from her sight. Hermione sighed. She felt a dull pain making its way into her head.

Great, now she had a bloody headache. The cause of which was the one and only Draco Malfoy, who she had to spend her nights patrolling with for the next six days.

Merlin, life couldn't be worse for Hermione Granger.

**A/N: So I'm not going to be like those review demanding authors who set up a limit of reviews or they won't update. I'm just gonna request you to review but if you don't, I'll still keep updating from time to time : )**

**Thank you for reading my story! :D**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: Hey! Can you hear me Rowling? Yeah, it's Jealous Dragon here! I would greatly appreciate it if you handed the copyrights of Harry Potter to me…What? No? Are you sure? *frown* Okay, no problem. Sorry guys, J.K. Rowling said no so therefore I still don't own Harry Potter :( **

**A/N: Hiya people! Thanks for the reviews: HallowRain8587, Sorceress of Magic, BettyBoop123, SpiritWitch, RobynRavenclaw98 and Dramione Lovr! Do you have any idea how much I LOVE to read your reviews?  
**

**Oh wow! This is the longest chapter I've ever written! Almost 3000 words! I don't know about you, but that's pretty long for me so yeah, here's my promise for a long chapter :)  
**

**Now, I present you Chapter 5 of 7 Days of Detention.**

* * *

**Chapter Five**

"Lavender! Stop it! I do not like Seamus, okay?" Parvati whispered, blushing as they entered the Gryffindor Common Room and Lavender nudged Parvati when they saw Seamus Finnigan doing his homework with Dean Thomas.

Seamus looked up and beamed at them. Parvati blushed some more and was just about to disappear into her dormitory when Seamus called, "Hey, Parvati?"

Dean meanwhile winked at Lavender knowingly and she flashed him a thumbs-up. Yes, everything was going according to plan.

Parvati straightened and tried not to seem flustered. "Yes, Seamus?"

"Um…you know…Hogsmeade. I mean, are you, you know?" Seamus asked her, looking down at his feet.

Parvati's face felt hot but she waited until he was ready, "Pardon?"

Dean got up and slapped him on the back and reprimanded, "Come on, man! Just ask her out! You've liked her since…I don't know, first year?"

Parvati and Lavender giggled while Seamus glared at Dean. "You did not have to say that, mate," he said irritably, "Anyway Parvati. I was thinking, maybe we could, you know, go to the next Hogsmeade weekend, I don't know, together?"

Parvati and grinned in delight and exclaimed, "I'd love to!"

"Excellent! So see you then," the Irish said, rubbing the back of his neck trying not to smile like an idiot. He'd been meaning to ask Parvati out for ages.

"See you," Parvati said and then grabbed Lavender's hand indicating that they have an emergency meeting right now.

"Oh my god!" they both cried in unison as they reached the Girls' Dormitories and collapsed on their beds.

"That was so cute!" sighed Lavender.

"I know! I cannot wait to go to Hogsmeade," Parvati said, her face glowing.

They talked about Seamus, boys in general and what Parvati should wear for her date for the next hour. Then they decided to go down to the Common Room and do some Divination homework. To their disappointment, Seamus and Dean had already left.

The Common Room was pretty empty, except for the Golden Trio, some first and second years and Ginny Weasley.

Thoughts of Seamus and Parvati's date disappeared instantly from Lavender and Parvati's head when they overheard Ginny and the Golden Trio talking.

"Blimey, Hermione! You must be devastated!" Ron said, peeling the wrapper of a Chocolate Frog. He groaned when he saw he'd got Albus Dumbledore. "Honestly Harry, I've got about a hundred Dumbledores!"

Harry shrugged and said, "Tough luck, Ron. Anyway, I can't believe it Hermione. I mean I know that Snape is a slime ball who loves to torture Gryffindors but don't you think this has gone too far?"

Parvati and Lavender looked at each other. What were they talking about? What had Snape done that was so horrific?

Ginny looked at Hermione with pity, "How was last night, 'Mione? He didn't do anything, did he?"

Lavender and Parvati grinned. Okay, so there was a _he _involved, huh? This was sure getting interesting.

"Yeah," Harry supplied, "We won't have any problem beating the hell out of him!"

"Definitely," Ron said eagerly, "I mean, that git certainly deserves it."

Hermione sighed and massaged her forehead. "Thanks guys, but I'll manage Malfoy. He hasn't done anything. Nor do I think he's going to. Thanks anyway. Now I'm going to try to get a couple hours sleep before patrol tonight."

"Okay, 'night Hermione," they chorused.

Lavender and Parvati's eyes widened. Hermione had something to do with Draco Malfoy. Of course they couldn't help but try to find more. They left their Divination homework and followed Hermione to their dorms.

Hermione was about to enter the bathroom for a quick hot shower when she heard, "Hermione wait! We've got to talk to you!"

Hermione saw the sources of the voices were Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown.

She looked at them suspiciously. They wanted to _talk _to her? That was unusual. Sure, they were all roommates but they barely talked to each other unless it was absolutely necessary. They weren't exactly interested in the same…uh, things.

"Sure. What is it about?" Hermione asked as she sat on the edge of her bed. They giggled and excitedly.

"Hermione! Why didn't you tell us?" Lavender asked.

"About what?" Hermione asked, confused.

"About Malfoy, of course!" Parvati clarified.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "What's there to tell? He and I got a week of detention together, okay? It's not a big deal."

They looked at her in glee and disbelief, "Hermione! Not a big deal? It's a tremendous deal! Wow! You're so lucky!" Lavender said dreamily.

"Yeah," added Parvati, "if I didn't like Seamus, I'd totally go for him."

Hermione stared at them. "Are you guys serious?"

"Of course! I mean, okay he's the hugest prat in the whole world but you can't deny you haven't noticed how hot he is!" Lavender reasoned, "You ought to be happy!"

"Take full advantage of the situation," grinned Parvati.

Hermione shook her head and said, "I'm not having this conversation."

"You had detention with him yesterday too, right?" Lavender asked, "How was it?"

"It was like a night patrol. Because that was our detention," Hermione said.

"A night patrol!" they said in unison.

"So romantic!" cooed Parvati.

"Yeah," sighed Lavender.

"Shut up!" Hermione said, blushing for no apparent reason (or so she told herself), "There is and never will be anything romantic between us, okay? So just lay off me."

They frowned but let it go. "Okay. Well, why did you two get detention in the first place?"

Hermione's lips were in a tight line and she looked mildly embarrassed. That piqued Lavender and Parvati's curiosity even more. What was it that Hermione and Malfoy had done?

"None of your business," Hermione snapped and headed towards the bathroom without another word.

Lavender and Parvati grinned at each other evilly.

Ginny was going to be their next target. Because they simply had to know what was going on.

* * *

Draco was impatiently tapping his foot, standing by the statue of the one-eyed witch. Where the hell was Granger? She was late two nights in a row.

This was unacceptable! He looked at his watch. It was five minutes to eleven and they were supposed to meet at eleven. Okay, maybe he was a little early but Granger was still late because Malfoys are never early.

Draco groaned. He didn't like to wait. After seven minutes but what felt like seven centuries, he saw Granger coming. He sighed in relief.

It's not like he was worried about her. Please! Why would he be worried about her? He wasn't worried about her at all. Draco Malfoy being worried about Hermione Granger was like Weasley buying himself brand new dress robes which was not that impossible but…oh, shut up!

The first thing that came to Draco's mind when Granger's face came into view was that she looked pretty. Draco shook his head and tried to clear his thoughts. Draco would never think such a thing. Granger was supposed to be an ugly, buck-toothed know-it-all, not pretty.

Yes, it was definitely the Butterbeer he'd drunk before coming there talking.

Hermione glared at Malfoy. She was so angry at him! The nerve of this git that he hadn't arrived at Snape's office after lunch and of course, Snape had barely even noticed!

"Granger, you look like you've come here to kill me," Draco drawled.

She gritted her teeth. "Well, I'm highly considering it at the moment."

"Thanks for the honour but seriously, what did I do this time?" he asked, looking bored.

"What did you do this time? Malfoy, why didn't you come to Snape's office after lunch?" Hermione hissed at him, "That was so immature and irresponsible of you!"

"I was busy," he said then added as an afterthought, "With Pansy."

Well, that wasn't entirely true. He hadn't been with Pansy. Actually he had been pranking some Hufflepuffs with Blaise Zabini. But he nonetheless said it to see Granger's reaction. Maybe hope for a little bit of jealousy?

She, however, just shuddered at the thought. Wait no; maybe she did look a bit peeved.

"I don't care what you were doing…especially with, ugh, Pansy," Hermione's face twisted in disgust and Draco smirked, satisfied. Hermione continued, "But you still should've come! You are a prefect, for Merlin's sake! Don't you know the meaning of responsibility?"

"You and I both know why I was made prefect, Granger," Draco said slowly like explaining to a little child and not the brightest witch of the age.

"Because your father donated, I don't know, two million galleons to the school?" Hermione stated rather than asked.

"No," Draco said forcefully, glaring at her, "Because I'm smart. I'm the smartest Slytherin. And if you add that with my cunning mind, I can do stuff, what was that word you used? Oh yeah, I can do stuff _irresponsibly _and get away with it. It's in my genes."

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Wow Draco! You're so clever!"

"You should try it sometime, Granger with that brain of yours instead of being so pathetically dutiful. My, my, you're a Gryffindor. I don't know why I'm even trying," he thought out loudly, just to piss her off, of course.

"Whatever," said Hermione irritably. Malfoy was driving her mad. For all she knew, maybe she was going to end up St. Mungo's Mentally Unstable Ward before the night was over. She couldn't help but feel a little cheerful at the thought. At least she would get away from Malfoy.

Yes, this was the kind of life she was living now. She preferred being mental than have the company of a fellow classmate. What was wrong with her?

But, she reminded herself, Draco Malfoy wasn't just a fellow classmate. He was the most obnoxious, arrogant, self-righteous, evil….aah, she didn't want to get into this again but you get the gist.

"Anyway, here," she continued, breaking her vivid train of thought as she handed him his bewitched wand.

"What?" he asked dumbly eyeing the wand in her hand sceptically.

"It's the wand we're supposed to be using for our detention," Hermione said, irritated, and when he continued to look suspicious she added, "Take it. I haven't cursed it, you idiot."

"Who're you calling an idiot, you bint?" Draco said as he scowled at her.

Hermione opened her mouth to protest but closed it (you don't unnecessarily want a stray fly or mosquito to end up in your mouth now, do you?). She blinked instead. She had expected harsher insults. 'Bint' comparing Malfoy's standards to normal people's was almost like he was calling her 'nice'.

"Bint? That's all you got?" Hermione asked him, bewildered.

His scowl deepened. "Why Granger? I've got much more colourful words if you prefer."

She ignored his statement. "What, no mudblood? No filthy scum?" she asked, her eyebrows raised in shock.

"What're you talking about? I don't always call people names. I have to be in the mood for it, which I'm not, right now."

Granger's eyes widened even more so at that. Then what she did next, Draco never would've expected.

She placed her hand on his forehead supposedly checking his temperature. Draco tried not to recoil at her touch. It was strange, not specifically in a bad way. Her hand was pleasantly warm and soft and he inconspicuously shivered despite the warmth of her hand.

His reaction to her touch was not what he'd been expecting. At all. And what the hell? Granger was right –since when did he not feel like insulting her? Then the horrific truth of it dawned on him. Was he going soft?

His mouth suddenly went dry.

No, no, no. This wasn't good. This wasn't good at all.

"Well, you don't have fever. Are you sure you're alright, though?" Granger continued oblivious to the boy's sudden paling.

Draco couldn't take it anymore. This wasn't him. The last week or so hadn't been him. It couldn't be him.

Before he could stop himself, he took a sharp step back and spat, "Get away from me, Mudblood."

A hurt look flashed in Granger's eyes but she quickly replaced it with a stony glare. He grumbled something incoherent.

Granger looked up at him sharply, her eyes piercing him like an extremely sharp-edged knife, "What did you say?"

"None of your business," he hissed.

"Fine. Now if you're done being a git, maybe we should get on with the patrol. Oh wait, you can never stop being a git because you _are _a git but let's start patrol anyway."

Draco stared daggers at her but said nothing. He just started walking and Granger started walking beside him, surprisingly matching his stride.

Neither of them said anything for the first hour of patrol. They didn't even look at each other. If they accidently did, it was through on-the-spot-death glares. But mostly they just sulked.

Hermione wondered how she had thought Malfoy had changed. Okay, maybe she still thought that but she was trying to change her mind very hard tonight.

Draco meanwhile was thinking how he'd ever thought Granger was 'interesting', Okay, maybe he still thought she was interesting but that wasn't the point. The point was despite being interesting (okay, _very _interesting), Granger still grated on his nerves like no other person did with the possible exception of his father and Weasley.

As they continued to walk in cold silence, suddenly both of them froze and their heads swivelled at the same time to the now empty hall behind them. Hermione gasped and grabbed Draco's hand instinctively without actually meaning to.

"Did you see that?" she asked in a hushed whisper.

Draco nodded very aware of her hand holding his.

They had both seen a shadow from the corners of their eyes passing a stone statue of some very weird looking magical creature. But there was no one to be seen. And it couldn't have been a hallucination or something along those lines because both of them had seen it and there was _very _little chance that both had been hallucinating and at that, had seen the same thing.

Hermione held on to his hand, not noticing what she was doing absent-mindedly. Draco gulped as he felt his face get hot but he didn't push her hand away. What the damn hell! Draco had to_ stop _reacting like that at Granger's touch. It was driving him crazy!

He vaguely wondered what would happen if she were to kiss him. If her mere touch was doing these things to him, he couldn't fathom what a passionate kiss would do.

_STOP! _He screamed at himself, _Don't even go there. _A silent part of him added, _Or you may never be able to come back. _

He shook his head imperceptibly trying to clear his thoughts. Oh Merlin, this was a nightmare.

After much thought, Granger finally noticed she was holding his hand and quickly let go with a furious blush.

Draco smirked to himself, because he was, after all, an intolerable git.

_Women, _he thought and almost snorted. "It was probably nothing," he said, "Even if it was something, I still have my wand with me. The original one which can perform wicked curses."

"No you don't," Hermione informed him, "Snape took it from you."

"What? Of course not!" he said. He checked his pockets but found them empty. How Snape had done that, he had no idea. But Granger did probably.

"Damn that man," Draco muttered. Hermione stifled a laugh.

They decided to let the shadow thingy pass saying it was probably Filch's mangy cat. But the thought still lingered in their minds.

Was it?

* * *

The Fat Lady looked at them disapprovingly as she opened up to let Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown inside the Gryffindor Common Room.

They giggled like mad as they collapsed on their four poster beds. They didn't need to worry about Ginny Weasley because she was a sound sleeper.

Parvati and Lavender had gotten the information they needed out of Ginny without any possible trouble or unnecessary fights. Ginny herself had some muttering angrily in the dormitory and had told Parvati and Lavender everything in the heat of the moment. They were, for once, thankful to Merlin that Ginny was hot-tempered.

"Oh my gosh!" said Lavender, "Did you see how Malfoy blushed when Hermione grabbed his hand? So cute!"

Parvati looked unsure, "I don't know Lav, if he was blushing. He's Draco Malfoy after all."

"Oh come on Parvati! He's so pale that even a little blush is noticeable on his face," Lavender retorted.

"I know. But maybe he wasn't blushing, Maybe he was getting angry. I don't trust him, you know," said Parvati thoughtfully.

Lavender rolled her eyes. "I know. Neither do I. But I can't help it, they look so adorable together!"

Parvati smiled, understanding what her best friend meant. "I agree. Forbidden Love is always delightful to watch. Not that I'm implying Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger love each other."

"What are you talking about, Parvati? Of course they do! Did you see how Hermione blushed later? And he didn't even hex her when she held his hand. Don't you think that's pretty unusual for Malfoy?"

"Yeah it is," Parvati said, "Maybe you're right Lav. Maybe Hermione does hold a soft spot in Malfoy's heart."

Lavender sighed dreamily. "Who knows?"

"Only time will tell."

* * *

**A/N: There goes the second day of detention! So how did you find this chapter? Enclose it in a review and post it by clicking the little review button down there! :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Un-freaking believable. This chapter crossed the limit of 4500 words! Its 4771 words to be exact :D I didn't ever think I'd write a chapter this long! I'm euphoric! **

**Anyway, I'm sorry for the update delay as I had gone to my grandmother's place and you know how grandmothers are so I had no time to type. **

**Thanks for the reviews:UselessScottishTigerGirl556, Love of Blood, HallowRain8587 and Sorceress of Magic!  
**

**Love of Blood: You'll find out in this chapter :)**

**P.S.: I forgot to state this in the first chapter but: forget that Hermione ever liked Ron in sixth year and forget that Draco ever got the job of assassinating Dumbledore and please ignore all the factual errors. **

**Now on with the chapter... **

**Chapter Six**

Draco was heading to double Charms when he heard two Gryffindors (you could tell that just with the way they talked) talking in hushed tones in an otherwise hidden alcove.

He, of course, couldn't help but overhear.

"Lav, I've got a very bad feeling about this," a girl who had a slight accent said worriedly.

Lav, Draco supposed her name was replied irritably, "Parvati! What could possibly go wrong? It wasn't like anybody saw us."

Aha! Draco almost said. So two goody two-shoes Gryffindors had done something no one was supposed to know, so naturally, it was something against the rules. He just had to find out what they had done and then he could dock a hundred points from them and report them to a teacher, preferably Snape and then Draco would get the satisfaction of degrading oh-so-perfect Gryffindor.

He leaned in closer to hear what Parvati had to say to this. He had, by that time, figured out these two girls were none other than Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil.

"Granted nobody saw us but I heard Ginny and Hermione talking about the 'shadow' Hermione and Malfoy saw while on patrol last night. They seemed worried, Lav. They think we were Death Eaters or You-Know-Who himself!" Can you believe it? What are we going to do?"

Draco froze. It was these two nosy Gryffindor sheep who had been those 'shadows' last night. He resisted the urge to fire curses at them. Merlin, the idiots had nearly given him a heart attack! He was definitely going to have a word with them.

Draco left with a sweep of his robe as he didn't want to hear what Lavender had to say.

They were going to pay.

Oh, yes. Very painfully.

Nobody messes with Draco Malfoy and gets away with it.

* * *

"Do you mind?" Draco drawled at the brunette who was attempting to enter the portrait hole at the same time as him.

"Yes!" Hermione barked, " 'Cause this is the Gryffindor Common Room and last time I checked, you are a Slytherin and are not welcome here! So go scurrying off to your stinking dungeons!"

Draco looked taken aback. Hermione Kind Granger was not particularly kind that evening. In fact, she was in a very foul mood. Snape as always, had taken a bazillion points from Gryffindor for no apparent reason, she had a splitting headache as in Charms, her partner's healing spell had backtracked on Hermione giving her a headache instead of healing one! Her back was killing her due to all her books and Ron had spilled some gravy version of Dragon Tartare on her and despite several cleaning spells, she still reeked like anything. To top it all off, here was Draco Malfoy who was trying to get in the Gryffindor Common Room and whom she had to spend the night patrolling with. So Hermione Granger was not just in a very foul mood. She was seething with rage.

"Whoa, whoa, slow down there, Granger," Draco said looking at her strangely, "Don't get your knickers in a twist. I'm just here to talk to St. Potter."

That, of course, wasn't the truth at all. He was there to teach two certain Gryffindor a lesson. But nevertheless, he lied just because he loved to mess with Granger.

Hermione just stared at him, some of her anger disappearing. Of all the things, she hadn't expected this in the least bit. Draco Malfoy wanted to _talk _to Harry Potter? Which direction did the sun rise from?

She shook herself out of her reverie and snapped, "You're dreaming Malfoy if you think I'm letting you anywhere near Harry."

He smirked. "Potter's new bodyguard, are we?"

"No," she said, "I'm just worried you might not survive."

He placed a hand on his heart and said, "Granger, I'm touched…I didn't know you cared."

Hermione laughed mirthlessly, "Oh don't worry, I don't. I just don't want Harry to land in Azkaban."

Draco was growing impatient, "Look Granger, I promise to talk to Potter…ahem, civilly."

Hermione narrowed her eyes. "I don't believe you," she stated frankly.

"Aw come on, Granger! Just let me in! Do you know how long I waited out here in Gryffindor germs for one of you to come here and speak the password? Fatso here wouldn't let me in otherwise."

"Watch your tongue, boy!" The Fat Lady retorted angrily.

"No," said Hermione adamantly. There was no way she was going to let Malfoy in the Gryffindor Common Room. It would be an absolute disaster!

"But," she reasoned, "I might consider some other option if you tell me what you want to talk to Harry about."

Draco sighed dramatically. It was time to finish his game and take option two. Tell Granger the truth. After all, she did deserve to know it. She'd been with him that night.

"Fine. I'm not here to talk to Scarhead, okay? Listen, I know what the shadows were last night. Remember those we saw?" asked Draco.

"Yeah?" replied Hermione dubiously, "What?"

"It was Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown," Draco revealed and when Granger still looked sceptical, he added, "I'm telling the truth. I still do that once in a while. Try the Veritaserum on me if you must."

Hermione contemplated whether to believe him or not for a second. I mean he _was _Draco Malfoy who could most likely just be messing with her and turning her against her dorm mates but she then she thought maybe he was telling the truth because he'd been as startled and scared that night as she'd been. She decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. "I guess you're telling the truth."

Draco nodded. He'd expected that much. Even if he were lying, Granger was still pretty gullible.

Then the reality of the situation hit her. Her eyes flashed in anger and her nose flared. Draco absent-mindedly thought she looked cute when she was mad. Then he mentally slapped himself hard (physically would've been embarrassing) and promised himself a lecture later.

"How dare they!" Hermione growled, "The nerve to come and spy on us! I knew something was up when they came to me asking about you but I never thought they'd sink so low! I swear those little devils aren't getting out of this alive!"

Then she looked over at him he was actually a bit scared of the anger he saw in her chocolate brown eyes.

She snarled, "You're lucky I'm angry, Malfoy. Looks like you're getting your wish."

She grabbed Draco's arm roughly and led him inside the Gryffindor Common Room. All the people inside gasped and stared in horror, shock and surprise as they saw the Slytherin Prince being led by no other than Hermione Granger –model of a perfect Gryffindor.

"You didn't have to personally escort me in, Granger", he muttered as he matched the Gryffindors' eyes with glares of his own.

"Shut up Malfoy!" Hermione snapped, apparently unfazed by all the looks of shock she was receiving as well. Finally Ginerva Weasley broke the silence. Fortunately, Ron and Harry had gone off to Quidditch practise and Ginny had stayed back due to a broken wrist.

"What in the world are you doing, Hermione?" Ginny demanded.

"I have business here to do, Ginny" Hermione said dangerously.

Ginny looked appalled. "With Malfoy?" she squeaked.

It was clear she wasn't able to process the scene taking place before her eyes. Everyone was having a field day as Hermione led Malfoy towards the Girls' Dormitories thinking Lavender and Parvati might be gossiping there but it was clear what everyone else thought Hermione's business was.

"Granger," Draco said as he tried to take his arm back from Granger's killer grip. He, at least, had the grace to look embarrassed.

Hermione then noticed the look on everyone's faces and she stopped in her tracks. She turned to face the Gryffindor Common Room, her face scrunched up in disgust.

"Ew you guys! That's disgusting! Ugh, how could you even think such a thing? For your information, I'm checking the dorms for Parvati and Lavender. Have any of you seen them?" Hermione inquired.

Everyone visibly relaxed. A second year girl timidly spoke up, "They haven't come in yet."

And Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown chose that moment to come in the portrait hole, laughing jovially, oblivious to what was happening inside.

They abruptly stopped when they saw everyone's solemn faces staring at them with pity.

"Hey, what' up guys?" Lavender tried weakly. It was the quiet before the storm.

Hermione dropped Malfoy's arm and stomped up to them, eyes flashing violently. Everyone was silently praying Parvati and Lavender survived this. They were not bad human beings –just a little nosy and didn't deserve the fate that was a furious Hermione.

It was an unsaid rule in Gryffindor everyone knew except Hermione herself of course: A mad Hermione Granger was not someone you wanted to be in the same room with.

"What were you thinking?" Hermione asked, her voice dangerously low. Parvati and Lavender noticeably gulped and tried to play dumb, "What are you talking about Hermione?"

The Gryffindors had quickly gotten over the fact that there was a Slytherin in their Common Room and the most notorious one at that. Draco was grateful. Murderous glares constantly thrown at you aren't at all pleasant.

"What am I talking about? Are you serious? Still not admitting that you were spying on Malfoy and me last night? I never expected you'd do a thing so low, you two!" Hermione said hotly.

Everyone's eyes slightly widened at the information but nobody said anything. Hermione rubbed her forehead in exasperation.

"I didn't want to have to do this but…Parvati, Lavender, I'm sorry –I have to take twenty points from Gryffindor for lurking around past curfew."

There were audible gasps throughout the room and everyone started at once.

"What?"

"A Gryffindor taking points from Gryffindor? What has the world come to?"

"Granger has gone mad!"

"No way!"

"I used to like you, Hermione!"

"Traitor!"

Hermione ignored them and turned to Draco who was rendered speechless, looking at her in awe. He'd had no idea Hermione had such power and control over the Gryffindors.

"Come on Malfoy. It's time for detention. I promised to meet Professor McGonagall near the statue of Boris the Bewildered for our wands and it's nearly time. She's letting us off early today. We only have patrol till nine," Hermione informed him.

Draco just mutely nodded and followed her out of the Gryffindor Common Room with newfound respect for a certain bossy know-it-all.

* * *

Hermione had somewhat calmed down but Draco did not take the risk so he just kept quiet for the first half hour of patrol. He wondered how he'd survived all those times when he used to call Granger, 'mudblood'. If this was Hermione Granger's wrath, he wasn't about to call her mudblood ever again. Or anything offensive for that matter. He knew it was cowardly and not very Malfoy or Slytherin-y but he loved his face more than he cared to admit. And if being nice to Granger or hell, even being civil to her saved it from a terrible fate; he was willing to do it.

He cleared his throat and glanced at her nervously. "Soo…" he started, "You okay now?"

She sighed and briefly smiled at him, "Yeah. Thanks for asking."

"Why were you so mad anyway?" he asked, curiosity getting the better of Draco. I mean granted, he was angry too but not to her extent. He was just going to threaten the pesky girls and scare them enough to prevent them from doing such thing again. Even though he hated to admit, he wasn't going to take points from Gryffindor. He did unnecessarily take points and misused his prefect privileges in fifth year but now he was more mature.

"I don't know!" she said, frustrated, "Something just went off inside me and I was out of control but I don't regret taking points. They deserved it."

When Draco raised his eyebrows at her, she said, "They did. You know Malfoy, there's one thing I absolutely despise. I hate it when people go and do something behind your back. I mean if you want to ask something, just ask it to my face! No need to spy! You know what I mean?"

Hermione was surprised at herself. She didn't share her feelings with Harry and Ron this way and here she was, pouring her thoughts out to Malfoy. But somehow, she felt good. It felt right and for once, he wasn't being a jerk about it.

Draco nodded. He did get what she was saying. Although he was used to it, what with Slytherins being the sneaky types, he still didn't like it.

"I understand. You know, in fourth year I ditched Pansy in the Yule Ball and went to talk to this girl I used to like then. When Millicent saw us, she reported to Pansy and there was literally steam coming out of her ears. She spied on us throughout the night but while doing so, bumped into Snape and spilled some gross thing she was drinking on his robes. You can guess what happened next," Draco grinned.

Hermione laughed, "Oh my god! That must've been quite a scene. I'm sad I missed it."

Draco was puzzled. "How? I know you came. Everybody saw you. You were with Krum" he also wanted to add, _also because you looked absolutely smashing, _but let it go.

Hermione rolled her eyes, remembering the terrible night and her fight with Ron. "I had a fight with Ron."

"About what?" Draco asked, before he could help himself.

Hermione knitted her eyebrows and said thoughtfully, "I don't actually remember. The reason was so petty and insignificant but Ron had to make a big deal out of it."

"And you wonder why I hate him," Draco muttered.

But she heard him. Hermione scowled and said, "You know, he's a good friend Malfoy. We've been through a lot, Harry, Ron and me."

"I can see that. Dumbledore's practically jumping around every year, telling everyone about your oh-so brave adventures!" Draco said like he'd just bit into a particularly sour lemon. He was reminded again of the reason he disliked the Golden Trio so much. _Okay maybe Granger not so much anymore, _he admitted begrudgingly.

Hermione flashed him a mischievous grin, "Jealous?"

"What? Of course not! There's nothing to be jealous of!" Draco denied it like it was the most ridiculous thing ever when in fact, it was very true. Draco Malfoy indeed was jealous of the Golden Trio.

"There's nothing to be ashamed of. I know we're awesome!" she said jokingly.

"How modest, Granger," he muttered, sarcastically.

Hermione laughed and Draco felt good too, her laughter highly contagious. When her laughing died down, she said, "You know you can be an okay person, Malfoy if you try."

Draco resisted the urge to smile. Honestly, what did he care what Granger thought of him? Instead he frowned and said, "I'm not sure whether I should take that as an insult or a compliment."

Hermione shrugged. "Whichever makes you happier."

Without thinking, his mind decided to take it as a compliment as that certainly made him happier. Then he mentally slapped himself (he'd been doing that a lot lately) and tried to permanently ingrain nine words in his brain: _I do not care what Granger thinks of me. _

Hermione glanced at Draco queerly. He looked really uneasy, like he was having an inner war with himself.

"Are you alright, Malfoy?" Hermione asked touching his arm. She had no idea why she was concerned about Malfoy but couldn't help but be. _Maybe it's my nature, _she thought and shrugged it off.

He jumped when she touched him and weakly smiled at her saying, "Yeah, I'm okay. Thanks," then he realized he was being remotely nice to her and said, "Not that it's any of _your _business."

She shot him a glare and thought bitterly, _Malfoy's never going to change._

Draco sighed as he immediately felt guilty. He was sick of this. For some otherworldly reason, he couldn't or dislike Granger even a little lately and felt guilty whenever he did something to hurt her, physically or mentally. Hell, he even felt guilty about the past five years. Then the arrogant Malfoy in him reminded Draco that he shouldn't be feeling guilt for the Mudblood. She didn't deserve it. As a result, he forced himself to be mean to her. But there just wasn't any hate or malice in his insults anymore. He decided to fix this in a way convenient to him, his inner Malfoy and Granger. By the time he made the decision, Granger was walking briskly. She was a few feet ahead of him.

Hermione felt tears prickle at the corners of her eyes. Why was it that whenever she tried to be nice to Malfoy, he always had to go and mess it up? Why couldn't he just go along with it? Sure, he hadn't called her Mudblood in a while but that wasn't much to rely on. She could just be thinking of some new insult. The question that had been at the back of her mind made its way to the front: Why did he hate her so much? Just because she was a Muggle-born and he was pure-blood? That was absurd on so many levels. Harry's dad was a pure-blood and he'd married Lily Evans, a Muggle-born and from what she'd heard, they'd been completely in love. Was there no chance Malfoy could ever like a Muggle-born, even as a friend? The worst thing of it all was she had no idea why she was thinking all this. She didn't know why she cared.

She'd liked it when Malfoy had called her "interesting". It wasn't because a handsome guy had complimented her (it wasn't exactly a compliment but whatever). It was because Malfoy had. She had been surprised of course, but for reasons unknown to her, she'd also been oddly pleased.

"Granger," Hermione heard Malfoy call her softly. She refused to acknowledge him and kept walking, the tears now filling her eyes in a rapid pace.

"Granger," he said a little more loudly. When she still didn't stop, and walked a little more quickly he groaned and caught up to her in a few seconds with his long legs.

He caught her arm and turned her around to face him. His aristocratic face held emotions Hermione had never thought he possessed. It was guilt and regret. She blinked and as a result, a tear slipped out. She quickly wiped it but not before Draco witnessed it. She cursed herself. She didn't want Malfoy to see her when she was at her most vulnerable.

Draco was alarmed. He'd never had any experience with emotional girls. Fine, there was Pansy who was always trying to emotional blackmail him but let's be blunt here, he couldn't care less about Pansy Parkinson, the girl he was supposed to tie the knot with after he graduated from Hogwarts which was in less than two years. He shuddered at the thought but let it go for now.

"Granger," he started uncertainly. Seriously, what are you supposed to say to pretty Gryffindor know-it-alls when they're crying? He might as well admit she was pretty now, after much denying. Hmmm…well, comforting her was too intimate for his taste. A small apology would suffice, he thought.

He sighed and blurted without thinking, "Granger, don't cry. Look, I'm sorry…I didn't mean that. It's nice that you care."

He swore under his breath and winced. Great, he couldn't have chosen sappier words.

But to his relief she sighed resignedly and said, "It's okay. I don't even know why I try," Ouch. "Anyway, what did you want to say?"

"Oh yeah," Draco said remembering why he'd called her in the first place. He exhaled, looking at the ceiling then back at her face where her cheek was still a little wet. He had an unexplainable urge to touch her soft cheek but he clenched his fists at his side and restrained. He cleared his throat and continued, "Look Granger, what I wanted to say is I want to, uh…I want to call a truce."

Hermione stared at him, not quite sure she'd heard him right, "Come again?"

He ran a hand through his hair and repeated, "I want to call a truce. I don't insult you, you don't insult me. No bodily harm and we'll be civil to each other at all times. It's the only way we'll get through this detention. Deal?"

Draco thrust his hand forward and avoided eye-contact. Hermione raised her eyebrows and smiled slightly at his discomfort. She bet he'd never called truce with anyone before.

She shook his hand and sealed the, "Deal."

"Good," he said and his face broke into a hesitant smile and Hermione found it a little difficult to breathe properly.

"I think we should get on with the patrol. We've hardly patrolled tonight," she said looking away from his face.

"Okay," he shrugged oblivious to the sudden flaming of her cheeks.

* * *

Hermione had managed to kill down her very hot and very red blush after a few too many minutes.

Merlin, what was wrong with her? Aside from the fact that she'd just seen Draco Malfoy, nasty Slytherin, smile genuinely for the first time her short life of sixteen years and it was bloody gorgeous.

She blinked. Had she just used Draco Malfoy and the word 'gorgeous' in the same sentence? What the hell! Okay, he was gorgeous but that didn't mean she had to admit it! She'd rather not, actually. It increased her blood-pressure. And heartbeat.

She gasped in horror as she realized what she was thinking. NO. Draco…Malfoy…gorgeous….aaaahhhhhhhhhh!

_I have to get my head checked, _she thought. Draco looked her at her, startled, when she let out her very audible gasp.

"Are you okay?" he asked, his brows knitted.

"Huh?" Hermione was caught off guard, "Yeah. I'm okay. I just realized I forgot to finish the Charms essay due tomorrow," she lied smoothly. Well, Hermione wasn't about to tell him what she'd really been thinking! She would die of embarrassment and he'd die because his ego would inflate so much, he'd end up bursting but either way, they would both be dead. And Hogwarts really didn't need to more deaths after Cedric Diggory's death in 4th year even though most would throw parties when they came to know of Malfoy's fortunate demise but that wasn't the point. The point was…well, she'd drifted away from it and now couldn't remember what it had been.

Huh. This constant bickering in her mind was a new thing. Usually Hermione was calm, composed and logical.

Little did she know a certain blond was going through the same thing.

Draco smirked at Granger all too knowingly, "Should've guessed."

Hermione scowled at him. "Don't be so condescending."

He pretended to be impressed. "Condescending? That's a big word, Granger. Is it your new word of the day?"

She shot him a murderous glare and said, "Shut up. I thought you were supposed to not insult me?"

His smirk didn't waver in the slightest, "Yeah but I'm not insulting you. I'm teasing you."

Hermione eyes then sort of glazed over and Draco realized what was coming with an inward groan.

"Well, you see teasing is technically insulting because in teasing too, you use the negativities like you do in insulting but I admit it's in less harsher way –"

Draco looked skyward and said, "Here we go again. Answer me Granger, why are you such a know-it-all?"

She smiled an embarrassed smile and tried to stop the blood from rushing to her cheeks. Gods of Olympus! She had never blushed so much in her entire life.

"Shut up!" she said not able to reply with a witty comeback at the moment. Her brain seemed to have switched off her sensible part and turned on the girly one and Hermione just wanted to jump off the Astronomy Tower before she did something too stupid.

Draco raised his eyebrows and asked, "Granger, have you any idea how many times you've told me to shut up tonight?"

"Malfoy, have you any idea how many times you haven't shut up tonight?" Hermione shot back jokingly.

Draco chuckled and they lapsed into a comfortable silence. Just yesterday, they would've been at each other's throats with the sharpest knives in their hands and the Unforgivables on their lips but now they were laughing and joking like friends who had known each other all their lives. Could a simple truce change so much in such a short time? Could a simply truce turn enemies into friends for one night? Hermione wondered if they'd be like this when the sun rose to welcome a new day. She would sure be disappointed if they didn't.

"You know Malfoy, you're nice company when you want to be," Hermione said smiling as she ignored the light scraping sound coming from the classroom they were passing by. Hermione dismissed it, thinking it was Mrs Norris and despite being a cat lover, she detested Filch's beast.

Draco glanced at her briefly. "I know. I'm amazing company. In any way you want." He winked.

Hermione cheeks reddened and she asked like she had no idea what unholy activity he was talking about, "What is that supposed to mean?"

He ignored her and continued, "Oh and you're bearable company too when you aren't being an intolerable know-it-all, that is well, 99.9 % of times but the rest of the time, you're okay I guess."

"Tell me Malfoy, are you always suck a prick?" Hermione asked while supressing a giggle. Gods, what was wrong with her? Hermione Granger _did not _giggle. That silly activity was done by girls like Parvati and Lavender.

"Nah, I sleep sometimes," he said grinning, his silver eyes glowing in the dark.

Hermione simply laughed.

"Ron, _control yourself_," Harry hissed as he tried to restrain his red-headed friend from busting out of the classroom they were hiding in.

"They're so chummy," growled Ron. Harry didn't voice it but he agreed with Ron. Malfoy was being far too friendly with Hermione than they'd like him to be. This could mean three things and could only end in three ways.

First, Malfoy was trying to trick Hermione because he'd been appointed to bring Hermione to Voldemort for something sick like Mudblood Sacrifice or something. If he succeeded, Harry and Ron would lose their best friend. _Over my dead body, _thought Harry.

Second, he was up to something to seek revenge on the trio which involved something idiotic like making friends with Hermione and then betraying her and breaking her heart or something. And Malfoy would win by the looks of it, if Harry and Ron didn't act fast enough.

Thirdly and lastly, Draco Malfoy had actually fallen in love with Hermione Granger and was trying to charm her and if he managed to do it, it could only end in one way which Harry didn't want to think about or he'd be sick by the mental images.

None of these possibilities seemed particularly appealing.

He was disturbed from his thoughts when he saw Ron trying to slip out from the door. "Ron, no!" Harry scolded as he pulled on his arm, "Malfoy will take a million points from Gryffindor and give us detention if he found out we are out past curfew."

They had decided to stay for a while after Quidditch practise. Then they had gotten so caught up in the exhilarating game, they didn't see how late it was. When they finally did, they slipped into the castle as discreetly as humansly possible by clumsy teenaged boys. They had hid into the empty classroom when they'd heard footsteps coming their way. That was when they overheard Hermione and Malfoy's oh-so-lovely conversation. It had taken all of Harry's self-control to not hex Malfoy into the next century.

When it looked like Ron didn't care how many points were deducted from Gryffindor, Harry added, "And you know Hermione will be mad to see us out after curfew timings. Even madder when she finds out we eaves-dropped. You know she hates that kind of thing."

That worked. Ron sighed and let go of the handle. "What do you say we do?" he asked, "We can't just let Satan's spawn take advantage of Hermione."

"I know Ron," answered Harry, absent-mindedly touching his magnificent scar, "We'll figure something out but I swear Malfoy's act won't go on for long."

"Yeah," agreed Ron, "Sorry Hermione but we're gonna have to intervene."

Uh-oh.

* * *

**A/N: So how did you find this chapter? Please let me know! I worked hard on this as I had no idea what to write next :P But I do now so hopefully updates will be faster if you review fast! :D Also, please check out my new Dramione one shot: _Draco Malfoy, are you asking me out on a date? _It's full of fluff and far too lovey-dovey for my taste but I just felt like writing it and I think it turned out okay. Don't forget to review that as well! Thank you :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Guys, I'm tremendously sorry for not updating sooner and the worst part is, I don't even have an excuse! Except Writer's Block which is so common, it can't even be considered an excuse anymore!**

**Anyway I would, as usual, like to thank all the reviewers personally just because I'm capable of doing that as I don't have twenty and thirty reviews per chapter in which case it would've been difficult though I'm willing to take up the challenge if you know what I mean. **

**As I was saying, thank you so, so much: more-profound-bond, UselessScottishTigerGirl556, 37, HallowRain8587, Mrs. Hiddleston, RobynRavenclaw98, TheOnlyQuirk and Sorceress of Magic!  
**

** more-profound-bond: I'm honored that mine is the first Dramione fic you're reading because there are just so many brilliant ones out there that 7 Days of Detention can't even compare to but thanks anyway! **

**Chapter Six**

Hermione woke up feeling very happy for some reason. It was just 7 A.M. and two hours till classes started and her dorm mates were still sleeping soundly, if their heavy breathing was any indication.

She looked out of the window which gave her the direct view of the Black Lake. It was a beautiful day. No clouds, a light breeze blowing and birds chirping cheerily. She grinned to herself and decided to have an early breakfast and go sit by the Lake till classes started with her favourite book of all time, Pride and Prejudice by Muggle writer, Jane Austen.

Hermione sighed. The plan sounded perfect.

She quickly readied herself up and headed to the kitchens. She tickled the pear on the portrait of the fruit platter and was immediately greeted by the sight of dozens of house elves bustling about, a delicious smell wafting to her nose.

She was startled when a hand tugged on her robe and she looked down to see Dobby. His saucer sized eyes staring back at her happily.

"Miss Hermione! Dobby is so happy to see you! What can Dobby do for Miss Hermione today?"

"Hello Dobby," Hermione greeted him, smiling then kneeling down to his height, "I'm really sorry for interrupting your work and I'm going to pay you later whether you like it or not but can you bring me something to eat for breakfast? I'm starving!"

Hermione felt guilty as she said this because she hated making house-elves work but she decided to make an exception today despite being the founder (and only willing member) of S.P.E.W.

Dobby shook his head, "Dobby is happy to help Harry Potter and his friends so Miss Hermione should not pay Dobby later. Now, what would Miss Hermione like?"

Hermione smiled at him warmly. "How about waffles? Think you can manage that? Oh and some orange juice if you please."

Dobby nodded his big head. "Dobby will be right back, Miss."

Within minutes, Dobby brought Hermione a delicious looking plate of waffles. After eating and chatting with Dobby, Hermione decided it was time to head to the lake and have some quiet time to herself.

She comfortably settled on the soft and dewy grass and began reading. Even the Giant Squid was surprisingly quiet today, not splashing its tentacles like always. Hermione was glad.

After about fifteen minutes of peaceful bliss, she was rudely interrupted and who comes to mind when you think of the word 'rude'?

Hermione looked up, expecting to see Harry or Ron or even Ginny but instead her chocolate eyes clashed with Draco Malfoy's metal ones.

His face was neutral –no smirk, no sneer, no scowl –just neutral. The gentle breeze was ruffling his blond hair and his grey eyes were not as harsh as they usually were –they were more like molten silver giving them a surprisingly soft edge.

He looked angelic.

But of course, he was the last person on Earth who you would refer to as _angelic _aside from his looks.

"Malfoy," Hermione nodded at him, immediately wondering if their truce was still on, "Fancy seeing you here so early."

His angelic features morphed into a smug smirk. "Of course you fancy seeing me. All girls do."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Why do you have to take every single thing the wrong way?"

"Why do you always have to be an incessant know-it-all?" he shot back.

Hermione blinked. She was sensing déjà vu. "Huh? What does this have to do with me being an incessant know-it-all as you so kindly put it?"

"Nothing," he said and shrugged. "I just like calling you that. It gives me an odd kind of pleasure, you know?"

Hermione dead-panned. "No. I don't know."

Malfoy opened his mouth to explain but she stopped him and said, "And I don't I _want _to know. It gives _me _an odd kind of pleasure in calling you an arrogant prick. Do you see my calling you that every chance I get?"

"Actually you do," he said smiling condescendingly.

Hermione realized that was, in fact, the truth. "Oh shut up," she grumbled restraining a smile herself.

Without an invitation, Malfoy plopped himself down beside her and put his hands behind his head, lying on the damp grass (not apparently caring about his 'expensive' clothes as he liked to point out so eloquently on numerable occasions), savouring sun's early rays, his eyes closed.

He looked angelic again and Hermione hated to make that observation.

She secretly smiled and continued to read. Apparently their truce was still intact and she was immensely happy. She liked this version of Malfoy however much she detested herself for admitting it.

There was a companionable silence and neither of them minded it.

* * *

Harry was rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, yawning. He opened his eyes and there was a fiery blur in his line of sight and it was coming closer at a rapid pace.

He squinted but couldn't make out a thing. He groaned inwardly. He hated his eyesight. Hermione being the bookworm she was did not have glasses whereas he, who barely touched books during _exams, _had such a terrible eyesight.

By the time he fumbled around for his glasses, found them and put them on, the fiery red blur was inches away from his face.

It was Ginny.

He gulped and felt his face get hot due to her proximity. He did not know what to do. From her expression, it didn't look like she wanted him to profess his undying love for her. More like she was here to slap him for unknown reasons.

I mean, she still looked beautiful with her brown eyes all fire and her red bangs enveloping her face and her lips pouting adorably, not to mention…

"Harry!" Ginny snapped her fingers in front of his emerald eyes, pulling him out of his daze.

"Huh? What?" he said completely befuddled.

"Have you listened to a word I said?" she asked, vexed.

_No, I was too busy admiring you, _he almost said but came to his senses at the last moment. _Merlin, _he thought, _if I don't stop liking her, I'm signing my death contract and it'll not be by Voldemort but by Ron. _

He shook his head as a reply to Ginny's question and hung his head sheepishly.

"Honestly Harry, where's your head these days?" she asked.

"Nothing. I'm just distracted, that's all," he said lying through his teeth.

Her gaze turned concerned and Harry felt a rush of something that greatly resembled affection.

"Harry, are you okay? Is it your scar?" she asked softly.

"Ginny, I'm fine. Why were you here, anyway?" Harry conveniently changed the topic.

And it worked.

"Oh yeah," she said, "Come on!"

Harry blinked in utter and complete confusion. "Where?"

"Oh come on! Don't you trust me?" Ginny insisted, pulling on his arm.

Harry decided that he did so he got up and followed her. He bumped into an invisible barrier as he tried entering the Girls' Dormitories.

"What?" Ginny asked irritably, already inside.

"I can't get in," said Harry helplessly.

Ginny swore under her breath and said, "Okay. Listen Harry. I think I saw Hermione and Malfoy sitting by the lake from my dorm window and they aren't fighting. In fact, they look quite friendly." She gave him a knowing look, which he returned, and looked out of the window again. Her eyes widened in shock. "Oh no, this is bad," she muttered, "Harry…now there's an angry Ron making his way towards them."

Harry's jaw dropped. This simply could not end well. "Oh, no! He's going to do something impulsive! I know it –come on, we have to hurry!"

Ginny nodded looking sick and then they rushed out of the Gryffindor Common Room as fast as their legs would carry them, the Fat Lady giving them disapproving looks.

* * *

"What are you doing here, ferret?" Draco heard someone snarl who suspiciously sounded like the Weasel King.

He lazily opened one eye and was greeted by the not so pleasant sight of Weasley, all red and breathing heavily bearing an uncanny resemblance to a constipated bull with steam practically coming out of his ears.

"Ron, what is it?" Granger suddenly asked beside Draco, putting her book down. Weasley's gaze shifted from Draco's face to Granger's.

Draco smirked cunningly as he saw something reflect in Weasley's beady eyes when Granger's eyes met his.

It was longing.

_Well, well, looks like someone has a crush. _

Draco smiled as one word popped into his mind: _Blackmail. _

Boy, was he going to have fun.

Then Weasley's eyes were back on Draco's now sitting form and it was full of pent up rage. "You –you, what are you doing here? With her?"

"Now, now Weasley," Draco said calmly, like he was the epitome of non-violence or something, "Don't get your knickers in a twist which I'm sure you're wearing because of your, oh how shall I say it?...gender confusion issue?"

Weasley looked like he was about ready to explode or pummel Draco to death. None sounded all that pleasant.

Granger looked horrified and reprimanded, "Malfoy!"

"Are you suggested my brother is confused about his gender, Malfoy?" asked someone, their voice deathly calm. The three of them turned to look at Ginny Weasley, fists balled and her expression livid and standing next to her was Harry Potter who looked pretty peeved as well.

Draco sneered. "Ah, Weaslette. How lovely of you to join us. Is your wedding with Potter fixed or is he too much of a wimp to propose? Or was it Thomas? It's so hard to keep track, you know, with your constant changing of boys –"

"I swear Malfoy –" Ginny started towards him with her wand drawn. Ron followed her lead.

Granger yelled, "Expelliarmus!" the same time as Potter yelled, "Guys, he's not worth it!"

"Stop it!" ordered Granger, stepping in between Draco Weasley with three wands in her hand. Harry had already taken care of Weasley. "Stop it you guys!

Then she turned to Draco, eyes flickering with anger which was so unlike the one he'd seen her unleash on Patil and Brown. That one was like a spark, quickly ignited but then as quickly diminished. This one was like a steady fire which didn't look like it was going to be diminished any time soon.

"Malfoy, can I have a word with you?" she asked slowly.

He cocked his head sideways and said all too superiorly, "Lead the way, love."

Weasley growled lowly at Draco's referring to Granger as 'love'.

Draco said irritably, "Don't do that, Weasley. We're in presence of ladies, here."

He could hear Weaslette mutter under her breath, "Didn't know the ferret cared about etiquettes."

Draco generously decided to ignore her and followed Granger.

Once they were out of The Golden Trio –one member + Weaslette's earshot, Granger turned to him and said impatiently, "Look I appreciate you being civil to me but can you please do it for my friends too? Is that asking too much?"

Draco looked like she had asked him to donate both of his kidneys. "Why would I do that? I'm not serving detention with them."

A look of hurt flashed across Granger's pretty (slap!) features and she didn't even bother covering it.

She whispered softly, the steady fire suddenly died, "Is that the only reason you're being nice to me?"

Of course he was being nice to her for more than one reason but he couldn't just say that outright to her face! He had a bloody reputation to maintain! He raked a hand through his hair restlessly.

"I uh –no…yes…I mean, maybe," he stuttered uncharacteristically.

She tapped her foot, arms crossed across her chest, "Decide what you want to say."

When he was still incapable of forming coherent sentences (due to the jumbling of his brain) in the course of the next two minutes, Hermione snapped at him, "Fine! I think I can sense what your answer is."

Then she threw him a disgusted look which expertly disguised the hurt underneath and stomped up to goody-goody friends and said something he couldn't hear.

After that, they started walking back to the castle, Weasley's arm protectively around Granger's shoulder. Draco's body filled with an unfamiliar, bitter sensation that made him want to gouge Weasley's eyes out.

Jealousy.

Suddenly, his shoulders slumped and he sighed deeply. Then an even more foreign emotion enveloped him and burned his chest.

Regret.

He'd messed up his first real friendship.

Merlin, he'd messed it up big time.

* * *

Pride.

That was the thing keeping Draco from apologizing to Hermio- Granger immediately although he wasn't sure what he'd be apologizing for. He just felt like he ought to which so out of character of him it was like a fish was asking to live on land. And he completely abhorred himself for that.

Yet, he still wanted to do it.

* * *

The last thing Hermione wanted to do was show up for detention and face that spoilt, worthless albino ferret whom she'd admittedly –ugh- kind of started liking lately.

As a friend.

_Note: Strictly as a friend. _

Then he had to go and blow it all up. She wanted to punch the daylights out of him much like she'd done in third year.

Hermione felt a wave of hurt go through her as she thought that the only reason Malfoy was being nice to her was because his scrawny ass couldn't survive detention otherwise. Was he really so heartless? Was he really so incapable of making real friends who actually care about you?

So she reluctantly got up and went to detention but her heart couldn't help but skip a beat when she saw him waiting for her and she wanted to kill herself for that. There was an uneasy tension between them.

Hermione barely spared him a glance as she mumbled something like, "You take the second floor and dungeons, and I'll take the rest."

He raised his eyebrows in surprise. "You want to split up?"

"Yes," she spat more venomously than she meant, "You have a problem with that?"

"No but are you sure you'll be okay?" he asked and under normal circumstances she would've been surprised out of her wits hearing such a sentence come out of Draco Malfoy's mouth but she was too angry to care.

"Yes. I'm not the top of class for nothing. Besides, since when do you care?" she said and stomped as fast as she could, not bothering to hear his answer.

* * *

Guilt was eating up Draco for the first time in his life as he absent-mindedly patrolled the damp and spine-chilling dungeons but he had lived in these dungeons his whole time in Hogwarts so he hardly noticed.

Someone could've let loose a Hungarian Horntail on him and he wouldn't have noticed –that's how distracted he was. Then he made his decision. And he was determined this time.

Kind of.

* * *

Hermione was feeling similar things just with the inclusion of tears that she couldn't let fall in front of her friends. She had no sodding clue as to why this was affecting her so much. She didn't feel this bad even when Drac- Malfoy called Hermione 'mudblood' for the first time in second year and that was saying something.

I mean, this was kind of expected of him, wasn't it? This selfishness, not paying heed to anyone else's feelings…all this Slytherinness? Then why did she feel so hurt?

It was driving her up the wall and there was nothing she could do about it. There was nothing she wanted more than to curl up in her bed, switch off her stupid and brains and stupid feelings and go to dreamless sleep. Instead she was roaming around a castle which was so damn cold at night that she was slowly freezing inside out because Hermione STUPID Granger had forgotten her cloak.

She noticeably shivering and there wasn't anything she could do about it. Not until she finished patrol anyway.

Suddenly she heard faint footsteps and drew out her wand. They were slowly coming closer briskly like the person wanted to hurry but didn't want to childishly run. Hermione only person like that and her guess turned about to be absolutely correct.

"Hey Granger, I did my portion so I thought I'd join you?" Malfoy said, slightly out of breath. Was it just her or did he sound a tad bit desperate to walk with her?

She narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously. "That was fast. I don't think anyone can do second floor and the dungeons so quickly."

"Well, it's me. With me, anything is possible. But that's not what I came here to say though I'm glad I could squeeze it in. Actually I wanted to say I'm –I –am….sor –so –sorry," he said the last word so quickly it was almost impossible to grasp. Hermione's sharp hearing did, though but she wasn't about to give him that pleasure.

"Pardon?" she asked sweetly, feigning confusion.

But somehow Draco Malfoy could see right through her. "Look Granger, I know you heard what I said. And that was the first and last time I apologized to someone so you should feel bloody honoured."

Hermione rolled her eyes and said all business-like, "Since you're new to this apology thing Malfoy, I'm going to give you a tip. You just don't _get _someone's forgiveness. You have to _earn _it."

Hermione expected him to laugh at her maniacally but instead she saw a bright glint of determination in his eyes.

"Is that a challenge?" he asked, with the same determination in his tone.

"Sure," she shrugged, "If you look at it that way."

Boy, she didn't know what she had just signed up for because challenges were a pretty big deal to the young Malfoy.

"Brace yourself, Granger because you're going to forgive me," he said confidently.

Hermione laughed mirthlessly. "I wouldn't be so sure if I were you. You are a spoilt brat and it's about time you knew you don't always get what you want."

Draco smirked in that nerve-grating way of his. "We'll see about that."

She shook her head in disbelief and that's when he noticed she didn't have her cloak and she was shivering as well as looking a bit blue.

"Are you cold?" he asked suddenly, already shedding his cloak.

"No," she lied automatically.

Draco snorted and draped his cloak over her thin frame, ignoring her protests. "You know, you don't have to be such a Gryffindor every minute of every day."

Hermione immediately felt warmth spread inside her body and it wasn't entirely because of the cloak which still had Malfoy's body heat. And it smelled really nice. Very, very nice. It smelled like expensive cologne and wood smoke and boyish but also of him. Of Malfoy. There's just this distinct smell every person has and Hermione had to admit Malfoy's was kind of nice.

"And you don't have to try so hard to be a gentleman," countered Hermione, cheeks a little red. Okay, very red.

"Yeah," he agreed, "because I _am _one. You know, if there's one thing my father taught me, it's to be a gentleman."

Hermione eyes widened in surprise. She'd had no idea Lucius taught Draco these things. She thought it was just how to hex, murder and torture people…you know, your usual evil.

"That's the greatest shock of my life, Malfoy because you're the last person who I would say behaved in a gentlemanly manner _ever_. Actually, you wouldn't even be in the list," Hermione voiced her thoughts.

He shrugged nonchalantly. "Well, I said my father taught me, who said I listened? But then again, I have my moments."

Hermione slightly smiled. "Clearly."

After a minute of silence, Hermione said "Do you have any idea how much you talk about yourself?"

"I do actually. It's my favourite subject," he said, smirking.

Hermione couldn't help but laugh though she converted it into a cough when she realized she was supposed to be mad at him.

Draco noticed this and contemplated he'd have to try harder than that. And he knew just the thing.

"So Granger, want to have some fun?" he asked mischievously.

"In what sense do you mean?" she asked dubiously. As far as she knew, Draco Malfoy and her idea of fun were two very different things.

"Just tell me if you want to or not?" he said impatiently tapping his foot.

She shrugged. What was the worst that could happen? Besides, Malfoy's fake wand restrained him from hurting her. And to tell the truth, Malfoy wasn't so bad as she'd earlier thought.

"Okay I guess. This patrol's boring the hell out of me anyway. Where are snogging couples when you need them? " she said.

"Brilliant," he grinned, "Now, come on." He offered Hermione his hand.

Hermione looked down at his hand then back at his face, completely baffled. "Where?"

"Come on. You'll come to know soon enough. Trust me," he insisted.

"I won't," she said bluntly.

He thought about it for a second. "Fair enough. Don't trust me then. If you feel like bailing, you're free to do it."

Hermione sighed. Curiosity killed the cat, right?

"Fine," she mumbled and let him take her hand.

Neither of them said a word as Draco led her to the dungeons in front of the Slytherin Common Room.

Her eyes widened in realization. "What are you doing?" she asked, slightly panicked. Granted he couldn't hurt her, but other heartless Slytherins could.

He rolled her eyes. "No one's going to kill you. Now…"

Before she could protest or hell, even see what was happening he'd took out his wand, pointed it to her face and muttered, "Facis Alterati."

Hermione gasped as a wave of coldness went through her. "What did you do?" she asked enraged. She'd trusted him!

"Don't worry, Granger. I changed you into someone else for an hour without the help of Polyjuice Potion and though this isn't completely what I had in mind, but it'll do I guess," Draco said moving his eyes over her form.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Hermione asked, through gritted teeth.

"See for yourself," he drawled as he took a small mirror from his pocket.

Hermione smiled. "A mirror? So typical of you to keep one in your pocket. Admire your looks often?"

Draco scowled at her. "It's not mine. It's Pansy's."

"Whatever you say," she said smirking, taking the mirror from his hand. When she gazed into the mirror, her jaw dropped to the innermost layer of Earth.

Staring back at her wasn't Hermione Granger, bushy-haired bookworm. This was someone completely different. This girl had beautiful silky, honey coloured hair and caramel skin with hazel eyes. And she was way taller than Hermione. In simpler words, the girl in the mirror was beautiful. Absolutely breath-taking. "This cannot be me," breathed Hermione.

"It is," said Draco softly.

Hermione inspected one of her strands and sure enough, it was honey coloured. Even her clothes were different. Instead of Gryffindor, she was wearing the Ravenclaw uniform and the skirt was much shorter than she'd like it to be. Her fingernails weren't bitten but perfectly manicured. She stared at Draco. "How?"

"Now as much I'd love to explain this to you, we should get going and oh, just a tip: Call me Draco for an hour and try to keep your murderous hatred for me at bay. Also your name is Cindy Kane and you're a fifth year Ravenclaw. " said Draco.

Hermione stared at him, not understanding a thing. "Huh?"

He slipped an arm around her waist which caused Hermione's throat to constrict and her stomach to do a somersault.

He roguishly smiled down at her and said in his most charming voice, "Come on sweetheart, we have a party to attend."

Hermione had time to think one thing before Draco dragged her into the Slytherin Common Room.

_Oh, no. _

* * *

**A/N: Oh yes, Draco and Hermione attend a Slytherin party in next chapter. Tell me your thoughts about this ;) **

**Note that the next chapter's probably going to be short.**

**Now the most important part of this Author's Note: This story has forty three follows. I wonder how it would feel like if all the followers reviewed *Hint! Hint!***

**No seriously guys, please review. I hate it when people just favourite the stories and follow them but don't review. **

**I'll have you know, it hurts our (mine and other authors') feelings very much because reviews are what keep us going. Reviews are what make us happy; motivate us to write more and better next time. They are our virtual payments and we don't want to be broke now, do we? **

**So just review.**

**Until next time!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. **

**Note: Please ignore any grammatical or spelling mistakes as I'm far too lazy to proofread. **

**A/N: Do not fret dear readers for I, am still alive! I know I'm late so sorry for that! **

**You know this is turning into a kind of tradition. I update after ages and then I apologize and I do it all over again. Pathetic, that's what I am! **

**But really…it is no fault of mine. Math and Science are killing me and I have to study to pass hence, restraining me from writing! **

**Anyway, thank you dear reviewers: verapaige01, Sorceress of Magic, Grovek26, Guest #1, Mrs Hiddleston, Guest#2, RobynRavenclaw98 and Guest #3! Your reviews mean the world to me. **

**Guest #3: I would love to read your story but you weren't signed in when you reviewed so I don't know which story to read.**

**So if you're still interested in this story…here goes…**

**P.S.: Oh and this chapter's short. Just adds to my pathetic-ness! **

**Chapter Eight**

Hermione swatted at Draco's hand with clenched teeth. "Malfoy, get your hands off me."

"Shut up, Granger. You'll ruin everything. And remember, this is a huge privilege for you so you'll _not _be reporting this, understand?" said Draco as he led her into the Slytherin Common Room, arm still around her slender waist.

"You do not get to boss me around, Malfoy. I'll do as I see fit," said Hermione haughtily. She looked around the infamous room. It wasn't how she'd expected it would be. Despite being in the dungeons, it sure was…cosy. Whoa, she hadn't thought she'd ever use the word 'cosy' to describe anything that was Slytherin but here she was. Oh well, life works in mysterious ways. The sofas and couches were pushed to the sides to make up a dance floor where intoxicated Slytherins girls were going crazy. There was a table with copious amounts of Butterbeer and Firewhiskey. There was some food as well. The lights were dim and it was difficult to make out faces if she wanted to report them later. Some Weird Sisters song was playing and the party was in full swing.

"Granger, don't you dare –" Draco started but was cut off by Zabini's cry of, "Oi Malfoy! Who's this pretty thing with you?"

"Smile Granger," Draco said under his breath, "And act like a complete ditz."

"If you wanted me to be a complete ditz, why did you make me a Ravenclaw? Awfully clever of you," Hermione said sarcastically.

"Do not use sarcasm on me, Granger. I like Ravenclaw, okay? I seem to find intelligent girls hot," he said as Blaise Zabini swaggered in their direction. His grip on her waist tightened and Hermione was as good as glued to him. Draco didn't seem to notice that though.

Despite herself, Hermione found herself blushing. Why did he have to say that he liked intelligent girl? Did she count? Oh what the hell –why did she care?

It was then that Zabini reached them and eyed Hermione like his favourite pudding.

"Well, hello there," he said flirtatiously, raving his dirty gaze up and down her form, "I'm Blaise Zabini. I don't reckon I've seen you around here."

Draco coughed loudly. "Zabini, am I invisible or something?"

Zabini grinned at Draco, "Hey mate. I didn't know you were bringing an escort."

Hermione smirked to herself as an idea hit her. "Really, Draco? You didn't tell your friend you were bringing me? How inconsiderate of you. Anyway, those are matters of the past. Hello Blaise, I'm Cindy. Cindy Kane. Nice to meet you." Hermione smiled her best smile and she thrust her hand out.

Blaise took it and kissed her knuckles. "The pleasure's mine Cindy."

He winked at her and Draco wanted to smack him. Couldn't he see she was with him? What was wrong with him? He was breaking the men's code.

"As pleasant as this was, I think we should get something to drink huh, Gra –Cindy?" said Draco, his voice dripping honey.

Hermione grinned to herself. Her little plan had worked. As far she knew, Malfoy hated it when someone attempted to take something of his, and got all defensive. Not that she was suggesting she was his. I mean, not really. It was just for the party and well, the idea of Cindy Kane was his and she _was _Cindy Kane, so technically she was his but not to worry, it was only till she got out of this stupid, illegal Slytherin party and strangled the life out of him.

She waved at Zabini as Malfoy steered her towards the refreshments table.

"What the hell was that about, Granger?" he hissed, "Didn't know you were interested in Zabini."

She smirked up at him. Somehow, this Slytherin setting had aroused her Slytherin part. "I am not. But I don't see why you care."

"I don't," he said obstinately like he was trying to assure himself.

"Why Malfoy, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were jealous," she said knowing perfectly well she was treading into dangerous territory.

"What?" he said, "That's outrageous!"

"Is it?" she asked, smiling slyly. Oh boy, Hermione was having fun, getting Malfoy all riled up.

He looked down at her, blond eyebrows raised dubiously, "Granger are you sure Zabini hasn't slipped you something while I wasn't looking?"

She shrugged and jutted her lip out. "I don't believe so but now that you mention it, I _would _like a drink."

She reached for a bottle of Butterbeer but when she about to open it, Draco took it from her hand, smiling devilishly.

"Why don't have a Firewhiskey instead?" he asked innocently like he had no ulterior motive to this which Hermione was sure he had.

Hermione laughed mirthlessly. "No, I'd rather not. I don't want to be drunk."

A challenging look took over his features. "I dare you." Then he grabbed a bottle of Firewhiskey and offered it to her.

Hermione narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously. Draco put his palms forward and said, "I swear I haven't spiked it."

Hermione just stared at the bottle. She didn't want to get drunk but she also didn't want to look like a pansy in front of all these Slytherins. She couldn't decide what to do.

"You scared, Granger?" asked Malfoy smirking.

That got to her. She roughly snatched the bottle from his hand, uncorked it and took a swig. She felt the bitter liquid burn down her throat. A second later, her stomach felt like it was on fire but she tried her hardest not to show her discomfort but come on, it was her first time after all! The effects weren't immediate, but she was sure she would feel woozy later.

Draco slowly nodded at her, impressed. "Well, well…guess the Gryffindor courage does show itself every now and then."

"You always underestimate me, Malfoy," she said.

"Clearly," he said.

"Are you sure you don't just want to get me drunk?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.

He laughed. "What? I don't think anyone in this room would ever want to get you drunk for…those reasons."

"Now, now Draco. Don't be so rude to your date. I'm positive every male would like to get Cindy drunk for 'those reasons', as you put it," said Zabini who had, in Draco's opinion, unfortunately joined them at the table.

Zabini winked at Granger seductively. _Oh Merlin, _thought Draco, _if only this idiot knew who Cindy really is. _

It wasn't that she, in any way, liked Blaise Zabini even a bit but Hermione blushed nevertheless. Draco noticed this and rolled his eyes.

"Zabini," he acknowledged his Italian friend, "Back to ogle my date, are you?"

"Can't help it mate," he said smiling charmingly at Hermione. Draco almost gagged.

This time though, Granger also looked repulsed by Zabini.

"Ugh," she said and took another swig from the Firewhiskey bottle. Draco watched in astonishment as she gulped down copious amounts of alcohol and at some point, he had to stop her.

"Whoa. Easy there," he said as he gently pulled the bottle away from her reach. Who knew Granger had it in her?

Hermione was starting to feel dizzy now. She groaned. Damn it, alcohol didn't suit her. By then, Zabini had found himself a new target.

Then Draco heard a distant cry of, "Drakie!" His eyes widened in horror. No, no, no…this was terrible. He had to do something fast. A sober Pansy was a nightmare…can you imagine how a drunk Pansy would be?

He turned to Granger and frantically shook her shoulder, "Granger. Dance with me."

Her eyes struggled to focus on his face. "What? Why? I don't want to dance with you. I hate dancing."

"Please Granger. It's an emergency," he said impatiently.

"Hmmm…" she said her voice somewhat slurred, stroking her chin, "I don't know…should I?..."

By now Pansy was five feet away from him.

"Oh for Merlin's sake," he sighed, grabbed Hermione's hand and dragged her to the dance floor.

He pulled her closer to him for effect. He just wanted to Pansy to notice them.

Despite her slightly drunken state, Hermione's breath hitched in her throat at the proximity and she felt tingly all over. But _because _of her slightly drunken state, she sighed and put her head on his shoulder. She wouldn't have been able to do this had she been herself, but Cindy Kane was a several inches taller than her.

Hermione contentedly closed her eyes, taking in his heavenly scent.

Draco smirked self-satisfactorily. He had a feeling Granger was enjoying this. _Well, _he thought, _whatever it takes to keep Pansy away from me. _Or so he told himself.

They weren't actually dancing, just swaying lazily. Draco could see Pansy in all her furious glory from the corner of his eyes. Good, plan was working.

Then suddenly Hermione giggled and said, "You smell nice."

Draco laughed inwardly. Oh Merlin, Granger was so going to regret all this.

"Oh really?" he asked, very amused.

"Yes," she said, "You're also really hot."

Draco burst out laughing then. He expected Granger to commit suicide once she was sober.

She pulled back and frowned at him. "Why're you laughing?"

His laughing finally died and he leaned to look straight into her beautiful chocolate brown eyes…wait, what? Chocolate brown? No, it must be a trick of the light. He inspected closer and sure enough, it was Granger's chocolate brown eyes, not Cindy's hazel ones.

"Damn," he muttered under his breath. Their hour was almost over and they had to meet McGonagall in precisely seven minutes. He needed to get Granger sober, make sure she was back to her bushy haired glory and reach McGonagall's office in freaking _seven minutes! _Maybe bringing her to the party wasn't such a good idea.

Draco gripped her shoulder and said sternly, "Granger, listen to me. I'm coming back in a minute so you have to stay here. You understand me? Do not go anywhere and hide from Pansy, okay?"

She looked at him dazedly but nodded nonetheless.

He quickly dashed to the Boys' Dormitories and took out a vial of sobriety potion from his trunk.

When he came down the stairs, he groaned as he witnessed the disturbing sight of Blaise hitting on Granger, whose hair had already started turning to her original state though Zabini was probably too drunk to notice it.

He grabbed Granger's hand and said to Blaise, "Sorry mate. I got to go. See you later, okay?"

Blaise grinned knowingly and winked at him before Draco swung the portrait open and got out with Granger.

Granger was scowling at him. "Dracooo," she said in a whiny voice, "Why did we come out? I was having so much fun!"

"That's great," he said slowly like talking to a five year old, "Now Granger, I want you to do something for me. Will you do it?"

She looked suspicious. "What is it?"

He took the vial out of his pocket and handed it to her. "I want you to drink this, okay?"

Hermione took a sniff and scrunched up her nose. "Why? It smells gross."

"Uh…" he said. Shit, he was running out of time. Granger wasn't supposed to be choosy, "If you drink this, you'll have an even smarter brain."

She brightened up at that. "Really?"

He nodded. Then she grinned in delight and drunk the contents of the vial in one gulp. By the time she drank it, she was completely changed back to her original appearance.

"Ugh, that was disgusting Malfoy," she said and Draco was relieved her voice was back to normal and not the screechy, girly, whiny drunken voice.

Then he remembered it. Their time was up.

He stood frozen in place.

"Malfoy, what' up?" asked Hermione. He looked like he'd just seen a ghost. Or a muggle in his case.

He met her gaze and said emotionlessly. "We're supposed to be in McGonagall office right now."

Her eyes widened in shock. "Are you crazy? What are you waiting for? Let's go!"

Draco finally snapped out of his stupor and they both ran like they'd never ran before and bolted to a stop in front of the former Gryffindor's office.

McGonagall of course shot them disapproving looks throughout the meeting and gave them a short lecture on 'tardiness'.

Once they were outside of her office and earshot, they slumped against a random corridor's wall and sighed simultaneously.

"Today was exhausting, Malfoy. You shouldn't have taken me to that stupid Slytherin party," Hermione reprimanded. She didn't however add that she had enjoyed more than ever in while.

"It's rude to complain, Granger," Draco drawled, eyes closed.

"Whatever," she said, too tired to come with a witty remark.

A few minutes passed in silence.

"Hey, Granger?"

"Yeah?"

"You called me hot." Hermione could feel his smirk in that sentence.

She groaned as she remembered all the things she'd done in her drunken state. And it was his entire fault.

"It was your entire faults," she voiced her thoughts, "If you hadn't got me drunk, I wouldn't ever have admitted that you're attractive."

His smirk widened. "You just did."

"Damn you," said Hermione, then sighed dejectedly, "You're going to torture me about this as long as I live, right?"

He laughed. "How could I not? This is just too good. You actually said, 'You're really hot'."

He had laughing fit yet again. When his laughter died down, Hermione asked coldly, "Are you done?"

"Aw come on Granger. Admit it. You had fun," he said, looking sideways at her.

She stood up and held out a hand to help him. He raised an eyebrow at that but took her hand regardless.

"I will, very conveniently, not answer that question. Now it's late and we should get going. Goodnight Malfoy," she said her voice business like.

He nodded, trying to look serious but failing miserably. "Goodnight Granger."

They started walking in the opposite directions but Draco was stopped by Granger's voice, "Oh and Malfoy?"

He turned his head back. "What?"

She smiled and Draco thought she looked beautiful.

"I forgive you."

* * *

**A/N: Review away people! I know this chapter wasn't up to the mark (actually it was probably a load of crap) but vent out your anger by dropping flamey a review, eh? **

**I'll probably take long to update so don't wait up! Lol, who am I kidding? You probably have much better stories to read! **

**Anyway, adios! Till next time! **


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: Search who owns Harry Potter on Google. See if my name pops up. **

**A/N: Tut-tut guys! Only six reviews for last chapter? Do I have to give you that author-payment-review speech again? **

**But a huge thanks and blueberry muffins to people who DID review: Grovek26, Guest #1, Guest #2, blackhawksbabe29, Mrs Hiddleston and Sorceress of Magic! **

**And by the way, SHORT CHAPTER ALERT! *beep beep***

**Chapter Nine**

Ginny narrowed her eyes suspiciously when she saw Draco Malfoy smirk and wiggle his eyebrows ay Hermione, who in turn, blushed furiously. What was going on between them? She had noticed this for a while now. Hermione didn't take part in insulting the egotistical ferret anymore, she had defended him more than once, and Ginny frequently caught her stealing glances at him during classes, not to mention that one time when Hermione and Malfoy had been comfortably relaxing by the lake with no hint of animosity toward each other.

If Ginny didn't know them, she'd have thought they were a happy couple.

Malfoy was no better. He wasn't mean to Hermione anymore, he didn't call her the 'M' word, he constantly flirted with her and Ginny saw something in his gaze when he looked at Hermione –something Ginny couldn't quite place.

Ginny couldn't be sure about him –after all, he was the master of deception and manipulation –but she was 101% sure her friend was developing a crush on the enemy. Actually, scratch that. Hermione already _had _developed a crush on the ferret.

She knew she had to stop this somehow. This couldn't possibly end well. If not two, it would definitely end up with one broken heart and while Ginny didn't care what happened to Malfoy, she was very concerned for her friend. Hermione and Malfoy were just…not right. I mean, mind you, they looked adorable together when you thought about it and they certainly balanced each other out very well but they were Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger for Merlin's freaking sake! Some things just weren't meant to be and Ginny was going to put a stop this –this, whatever this was –before it went too much out of hand.

Maybe the boys were dense enough to not see this but Ginny wasn't.

Or she thought.

"Ginny," whispered Harry, pulling her out her reverie, "Have you noticed something weird going on between Hermione and that git, Malfoy?"

She blinked and stared at him in surprise. "Huh? You've noticed it too?"

Harry nodded. "Of course. It's painfully obvious. Ron and I overheard their conversation and believe me, they sounded _pretty _friendly."

They both looked over at Ron when he exclaimed, "Blimey Hermione! Did Malfoy just wink at you?"

His eyes were about to fall from their sockets. Hermione felt a blush creeping her neck. Damn it! She knew what this was about. Draco was still teasing her about calling him hot. Dear Merlin, why did she let that slip? He was going to torture her about it for the rest of eternity.

Hermione decided to ignore him and deny her friends' suspicions. "What are you talking about, Ronald? Malfoy isn't even looking our way." And sure enough he had turned to talk to that cow, Pansy.

Hermione heaved a sigh of relief as her friends shrugged the matter off. Ginny bid them goodbye and they stepped inside the Potions dungeon. Professor Snape wasn't there yet, which was typical of him. The pungent smell of potions greeted them and Hermione seated herself beside Ron.

Fifteen minutes of class flew past them and Hermione was paying Snape rapt attention as he drawled on about Felix Felicis, liquid luck.

She was interrupted from her occasional note-taking when a piece of paper hit her mane. It fell on her desk. She quickly cast Ron a sideways glance and relaxed when she noted he wasn't looking. She furtively opened the note and read what it said.

_You think I might get lucky with you without Felix Felicis, Granger? The thing's hard to get, even for me. _

_-DM_

Hermione stared at the elegant cursive. She read the note again. And again.

She turned her head back to look at Malfoy and he winked at her. Hermione blinked and shook her head. Then she quickly jotted down a note.

**_Malfoy, did you just hit on me? _**

His reply came a mere two minutes later.

_Sure, I did. After knowing that you find me –I quote –'really hot', I've got to try, now don't I?_

After that, Hermione didn't listen to a word that came out from Snape because she was too busy passing notes with Malfoy.

**_Would you shut up about that already?_**

_Not a chance, love._

**_Do not call me 'love'. It's annoying. _**

_Exactly. _

**_You're the most obnoxiously infuriating person I have ever met. _**

_Right back at you, darling. _

**_Right…so was there a purpose to this or were you just yearning to talk to me? _**

_Granger, are you reading those wacky romance novels again?_

**_What? That's preposterous. Of course not. _**

_Okay, so you are reading them. Greatly explains your behaviour. _

**_What do you mean, Malfoy?_**

_Never mind. Anyway, what I wanted to tell you is that –meet me in the library at lunch. I have to tell you something. _

Hermione felt her throat go dry. What did he want to tell her? She hastily scribbled a reply:

**_Tell me what?_**

But to her disappointment, he didn't reply to her note. Hermione tried to catch his eye but he wouldn't look at her. Hermione sighed and stuffed the piece of parchment in her pocket.

After Double Charms and Transfiguration which was spent by Hermione in anticipation and Harry and Ron in suspicion, lunch finally came.

Hermione quickly ate her lunch and was about to get up when Ginny grabbed her wrist and stopped her, "Where are you going, Hermione? We've just got here and you've hardly eaten anything."

"I'm not hungry and I have to research about this essay we've been assigned in Transfiguration," lied Hermione nervously, fiddling with the hem of her skirt.

Ginny frowned. "Are you sure? You're working too hard."

Hermione smiled warmly at her friend's concern. "I'm fine, Ginny. I'll see you in the dorm."

With that, Hermione left the Great Hall and headed toward the library, her impatience increasing by the second.

After five minutes, she reached the third floor. She took a deep breath, straightened her uniform and hair and stepped in the library.

Knowing Malfoy, she decided she'd better look in the back, where people didn't pay much attention but she didn't find him there.

Draco looked at Granger approach. He grinned evilly and thought, _Time for some fun. _

He materialized before her and nodded. "Granger."

Hermione replied, "Malfoy. What did you want to tell me?"

He smiled lopsidedly and Hermione felt weak in the knees. He took a few steps towards her and she took a few back. This continued until he had cornered her.

Hermione boldly looked up into his cool grey eyes. "I repeat my question. What did you want to tell me, Malfoy?"

Something flashed in his eyes. "Wouldn't you like to know."

Hermione gritted her teeth. "Need I remind you, Malfoy, that _you _were the one who called _me _here?"

"I perfectly aware of that, Granger," he said coolly.

"Then stop wasting my time and tell me what this is all about!" snapped a now very infuriated Hermione. Did I mention Hermione was VERY impatient?

"Curious, aren't we?" he asked, still unperturbed.

Hermione took a deep breath to calm down and said, "Yes, I'm curious. It's in my nature."

Then Draco chuckled lightly which caused Hermione to suddenly notice their proximity. They were very close –way too close for her comfort. She breathed in deeply as his scent hit her nostrils. She tried to look like their propinquity wasn't affecting her in the least, but boy, was it hard!

Draco leaned in closer and the intensity in his eyes caused her face to feel hot and apparently he was well aware of that. She wanted to look at anything but his eyes but Hermione stood her ground. The sexual tension was unbelievable.

Draco's gaze drifted to her lips and Hermione's heart already racing heart felt like it would leap out of her chest any moment. Her stomach felt fluttery and she was tingly all over. He came even closer and their lips were inches apart. Hermione's eyes started to flutter close. Draco smirked as he saw this.

What Hermione had been expecting never came and instead Draco's mouth stopped beside her ear, his smooth cheek brushing against hers.

"Better luck next time, Granger," he whispered seductively in her ear. Hermione felt shivers go down her spine as his hot breath tickled her neck.

Then he abruptly pulled away and started making his way outside the library, a smug expression gracing his aristocratically handsome features. Hermione's face reddened in mortification.

Before he went out of her sight, he stopped and turned to look at her. "Oh and by the way, what I wanted to tell you was that I can't come to detention today due to Qudditch practise and Snape excused me for today so you'll have to patrol alone."

"Okay," Hermione croaked out, not meeting his eyes.

He smiled that irresistible lopsided smile and with one last wink, disappeared out of her sight.

Hermione exhaled and slumped against the wall, her knees finally buckling. Fine, she admitted, she was attracted to Malfoy –Draco. She was very, very attracted to him. She didn't know if the attraction had just triggered when their detention started or it had been there all along. Whatever it was, it was there and she couldn't help but feel breathless and lightheaded in his presence.

_It is just an infatuation_, she kept telling herself, _it will pass and everything will go back to normal again. Relax._

But truth to be told, she wasn't very sure herself.

* * *

Ginny flattened against the cool wall as she heard two ultra- annoying Slytherin girls yapping away. The only interesting thing was they were talking about Malfoy and Ginny was desperate for any kind of information.

"Daphne!" Pansy Pug-Faced Parkinson whined irritably, "Why isn't Drakie-Poo paying attention to me anymore?"

Ginny could feel Daphne Greengrass, the cleverer one of the two, roll her eyes. "Pansy, no offense or anything, but he never did pay attention to you. But I think you're right –Draco seems distracted nowadays."

_Aha!_ Thought Ginny, _so Malfoy's distracted these days, huh?_

"Why?" asked Pansy, horrified, "Do you think he has some secret girlfriend he isn't telling us about?"

Daphne snorted. "No, I don't think that's it. If he had a girlfriend, he would waste no time in boasting about her to Blaise or Nott or someone."

Pansy scrunched up her pug nose in thought as she put her few brain cells to use, "Hmmm…you're right. This is Draco Malfoy we're talking about. What else could be there? Do you think maybe he fancies someone?"

Daphne shrugged. "That might be the case. I honestly don't know. It could just be some stress we're overreacting about."

"No," denied Pansy, "it's something else, I'm sure."

Ginny had to flee the scene as the girls came close enough to see her.

She was pretty sure Malfoy wasn't _stressed _about schoolwork or anything.

The only other explanation was Hermione.

_Oh, dear Merlin, _she thought, _you had to make this crush thingy mutual, didn't you? This is a nightmare. _

Maybe she was just jumping to conclusions.

Or maybe not.

* * *

Patrol, obviously wasn't the same without Malfoy. It was pretty depressing and drab actually. Hermione just wanted to finish it as fast as possible and curl up in her favourite overstuffed armchair in the Common Room with a delicious mug of hot chocolate and a copy of _The Goblin Revolt _to accompany.

After giving two students detention with Filch and taking points from five students, Hermione dragged her legs to the Gryffindor Common Room.

She went up to her dormitory to change into something more comfortable than the school uniform. She was surprised when she found Ginny sitting on her bed, arms folded across her chest. She was wearing a grim expression.

"Oh Hermione," she said, "Finally. I was waiting for you for ages. Now tell me what is going on between you and Malfoy?"

Hermione took a step back, taken aback. Hermione replayed Ginny's words in her words in her mind and stuttered uncharacteristically, "Excuse me?"

"Don't play dumb with me Hermione," warned Ginny, eyes flashing, "Something very serious is going on between you two. Oh Merlin, you haven't kissed yet, have you?"

"Ginny!" exclaimed Hermione indignantly, blushing a deep scarlet, "We haven't kissed and I see no reason to do so in the future!"

Ginny sighed in relief, "Hermione. I'm one of your closest friends. I've known you for five years. Don't think you can fool me. I can't control your life but just remember, you can do a lot better than that git Malfoy."

"He's not a git, Ginny," said Hermione automatically, then clamped a hand over her mouth, "I mean, he _is _a git but he's much mature now."

"What about Viktor Krum? Now he was a catch!" said Ginny, over-cheerfully.

Hermione dead-panned. "Gin, Viktor and I are just friends. These long term relationships never work and I don't feel that way about him."

"Why don't you give him a try?" suggested Ginny desperately. She was really running out of things here.

Hermione just shook her head. "I'm going to bed, Ginny."

Ginny sighed dejectedly. Hermione was a headstrong girl. You couldn't change her thoughts just like that.

"Okay. Hermione just…be careful," Ginny said.

Hermione smiled half-heartedly and snuggled under the sheets, dropping the idea of a nice read.

The last thought before she fell asleep was…

_When did my life get so complicated?_

* * *

**A/N: Now, guys…I want a lot of reviews for this one! Pllleeeasssee?**

**Hot Draco Malfoys for whoever who reviews. Once I get your review, I will pack a Draco and send him to your house right away. Happy? :P**

**No, seriously guys…please review. **


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I'm not great enough to own Harry Potter. **

**A/N: Well, well would you look at that? I offer Draco Malfoys and I get fourteen reviews! No guys, you seriously are great! I love you all! If I'd known that would do the trick, I'd have offered Dracos ages ago! **

**Thank you so, so, so, so, so much for the fantastic reviews: AuggieDeeksNico, Grovek26, ShHpBookworm, verapaige01, eoz16, Guest #1, kiddo, Guest #2, Sorceress of Magic, Missy, Mrs Hiddleston, blackhawksbabe29, Draco M and I2 AdrianP!**

**Grovek26: I'm sorry if it looked like that because I honestly didn't mean for it to! I swear Draco was just playing with her, no bad intentions! **

**blackhawksbabe29: Oops, sorry! I meant long-distance relationships, not long-term. Thanks for pointing out the mistake :D**

**Okay, so guys, tomorrow's my birthday and it'd be an amazing gift if most of you could review and tomorrow I open my account and find, BAM! Forty reviews or fifty reviews or something like that! It'd be a dream come true to get so many reviews for one chapter! I know all of you can't (won't) review but can you please try? It'd mean the world to me :)**

**I intended to make this chapter longer but couldn't due to birthday planning and all that!**

**But anyway, here goes…**

**Chapter Ten**

"Hey Hagrid!" greeted Harry as he saw the half-giant approaching them. Hagrid looked stressed and Harry and Ron could only wonder why. Hagrid's stress wasn't something ordinary like his dog getting ill. It usually involved dangerous creatures like say, Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback.

And this time was no different.

" 'Arry, Ron, where's 'Ermione?" asked Hagrid.

Ron rolled his eyes. "The library. As usual."

Hagrid nodded. "No matter. But yeh have ter swear yeh won't tell this to anybody, alright?"

Harry and Ron nodded obediently. "Go on, we're listening."

"Okay…'ere we go…I, eh, I…My pet Nogtail got lost in the castle," said Hagrid nervously.

"Your pet what?" Harry and Ron asked simultaneously.

"Shh.." said Hagrid worriedly, "Keep yer voices low. Don' wan' nobody to hear this."

"Hagrid," said Harry slowly, "What is a Nogtail?"

Hagrid looked like Harry had just asked him what a dog was, "Yer don' know what a Nogtail is?"

Harry and Ron just stared at him.

Hagrid sighed. "Hones'ly, kids these days hardly know anything. A Nogtail looks like pig with beady, black eyes. It's not very dangerous but it's not harmless either."

The duo gaped at him. "Where did you find such a thing? And how did you lose it in the castle?"

"Well, the poor thing was dying in the Forbidden Forest. Grawp found it an' I nursed it back ter health. I was jus' takin' it fer a walk and it got away and disappeared in the castle. I been tryin' to find it all day. Dunno where it went," Hagrid explained.

"Oh no, Hagrid!" exclaimed Ron, "What're you going to do?"

"Have you told Dumbledore?" asked Harry at the same time.

Hagrid looked horrified by the idea. "Dum'ledore? He's got enough on his mind…don' wanna worry him with this!"

"You're right. So what do you reckon we do?" Harry wanted to know.

"Jus' keep a lookout for him," said Hagrid.

Harry and Ron gulped nervously then nodded.

"Good," said Hagrid, "I'll be off then. See you, 'Arry, Ron."

With that Hagrid bid them farewell.

Ron turned to Harry. "Thank Merlin, it's not spiders this time."

* * *

"Hermione…" Ginny said as she shook her friend awake.

"Hmmm?" mumbled Hermione, still dazed with sleep. Her eyes weren't even open yet, "Go away Ginny, I want to sleep."

They were in the library. Hermione was sleeping over her Herbology essay and it had crinkled the parchment. Her hair was frizzier than usual, her eyes were droopy and rimmed with dark circles. She probably looked like a zombie.

"Gladly. There's just this one, um, problem," said Ginny, trying hard not to laugh.

That piqued Hermione's curiosity a little bit, "What?" she asked groggily, her voice muffled.

"You see, Malfoy's been running around for the past hour, practically pulling his hair out and asking every single person who comes his way if they've seen you," said Ginny, trying her best to keep a straight face.

Hermione head jerked up. She colourfully swore under breath and Ginny looked mock-scandalized, "Hermione! What influence will you have on innocent first and second year? You're a prefect!"

"Oh shut up, Ginny," Hermione grumbled as she stacked her parchments and collected her quills and ink and stuffed them in her already over-flowing bag, "God, I'm late for patrol. _One hour late. _Malfoy lectures me if I'm five minutes late. He's going to have my head this time, I'm telling you!"

Ginny narrowed her eyes, "Well, you two seem close."

Hermione was grateful her bushy mane was hiding her face because she _really _didn't want Ginny to see she was blushing like mad just at the mere thought of Draco Malfoy. Merlin, she was going mad. She was certain of it.

"Um…" Hermione avoided answering to that, "I got to run now, Gin! See you later!"

Before Ginny could utter a word of protest, Hermione had dashed through the library door with the speed of light.

Hermione ran and ran until she reached the Gryffindor Common Room. She hurried in, dumped her book bag in the Common Room and went out of the portrait hole. As she was –CRASH!

She bumped into somebody that ended with her sprawled on the cold floor. She groaned as she rubbed her head.

"GRANGER!" Malfoy's voice yelled, "WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW LONG I'VE BEEN SEARCHING FOR YOU? YOU WERE _ONE HOUR _LATE! I'D BE KICKED OUT OF MY HOUSE IF I WAS EVER AN HOUR LATE!"

"I'M SORRY, OKAY?" Hermione yelled back though she had no idea why she was yelling, "I WAS STUDYING IN THE LIBRARY –"

"WHEN ARE YOU NOT?" interrupted Draco, still shouting. Honestly, the girl lived in the bloody library.

"–AND I FELL ASLEEP! I WAS SO TIRED, MALFOY? AREN'T YOU EVER TIRED? THEN GINNY CAME WOKE ME UP AND SAID YOU WERE SEARCHING FOR ME ALL OVER THE CASTLE. GOD, CAN'T YOU EVER NOT MAKE A SCENE? SO AFTER I WOKE UP, I SWEAR I WASTED NO TIME IN COMING HERE, ALRIGHT?!"

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT ANY OF THAT! YOU WERE STILL ONE HOUR LATE AND I WAS WORRIED SICK A HIPPOGRIFF HAD EATEN YOU OR YOU'D BLOODY JUMPED OFF THE ASTRONOMY TOWER!"

"JUST BECAUSE ONE BROKE YOUR ARM IN THIRD YEAR AND IT WAS ALL YOUR FAULT FOR NOT LISTENING TO HAGRID DOESN'T MEAN HIPPOGRIFFS EAT PEOPLE! THEY ARE RESPECTABLE CREATURES AND YOU JUST ADMITTED YOU WERE WORRIED ABOUT ME!"

That shut both of them up. They composed themselves and filled their lungs with oxygen for a moment. For a peaceful minute, you could only hear their heavy breathing as they studied each other.

Though Hermione couldn't be sure, she thought there was a pinkish tinge to Malfoy's cheeks but what did she know? But he sure seemed flustered and seeing cool, composed, witty Malfoy flustered was a very rare sight.

"Uh…" started Draco when the silence and staring began to get awkward. He couldn't believe he'd just said that! He had to change the topic and mood, he decided, and he had to do it fast, "Whoa, Granger…you look like hell."

And he wasn't lying either. Her brown hair was all over the place, giving her a fiery appearance which Draco found extremely hot, her brown eyes weren't as attentive as usual and she had dark circles but they didn't make her look ugly. Far from it, actually And Draco noticed all this because he was uncommonly observant, not because he was admiring how Granger looked because that would be insane…right?

To Draco's relief, Hermione fell for it and deadpanned, "Thank you, Draco for delightfully stating the obvious."

"Whatever," said Draco as he turned to start walking, "Let's just get on with the patrol."

"Fine with me," muttered Hermione as she fell in a step beside him.

They patrolled for half an hour in a tense and incredibly awkward silence, begging Merlin for snogging couples to show up. Their hands were stiff by their sides and all either of them wanted to do was run away, break the silence or snog each other senseless. Even Draco couldn't find it in himself to continue with his incessant flirting.

"Oink!" heard Draco distantly. He scrunched up his eyebrows in concentration and confusion. He swore he'd heard something resembling a pig. But it could just be fatigue taking its toll on him.

When he didn't hear it again, he shrugged and decided to ignore it. After fifteen minutes, he heard it again.

"Granger, did you hear that?" he asked finally. Hermione looked up at him, her eyes wide.

"You heard it too? It sounded like a –" said Hermione.

"A pig, yeah," interrupted Draco. He was looking around for source of the pig-like sound.

"What do you reckon it is?" asked Draco, curious.

Hermione bit her lip, "I don't know. I mean, it could just be a pig but I can't imagine how an ordinary pig would get into Hogwarts or it could be someone's idea of a prank. I really can't be sure."

Draco raked a hand through his hair. Hermione noted he had a habit of doing that when he was confused or frustrated.

"What do we do? We're on rounds after all. I think we should check out what it is, don't you?" suggested Hermione.

Draco sighed and nodded. But they didn't have to go very far because after taking ten steps, they heard the sound again and it was very close. Disturbingly close.

Then it happened. It happened so fast, it was like a blur. One second Draco and Hermione were just standing there and the next, a pig-like creature was hopping past them, oinking its heart out. The prefects were just frozen in place.

After it disappeared around the corner, Hermione snapped out of it and shook Draco's arm frantically, "What are we waiting for? Let's go!" she shouted.

Draco came to his senses and started running after the creature with Hermione.

As they ran, Draco yelled, "What was it?"

Hermione replied, "It looked like a Nogtail to me! I've read all about them!"

"What haven't you read all about it?" asked Draco, seriously irked at her never ending knowledge. She was like a walking, hot, feisty encyclopaedia!

"Err…" started Hermione but when she couldn't think of anything, she said, "Loads of things, I'm sure. And being knowledgeable isn't a bad thing!"

But unfortunately for us, that was the stop to their conversation because talking (shouting) while running was really draining them and making them short of breath.

After much running, chasing, climbing, flailing and cussing, Draco and Hermione found themselves going towards the Black Lake, where the Nogtail seemed to be headed.

Draco slowed down as he neared the edge of the lake but oops, Hermione wasn't so lucky. By the time she skidded to a halt, she was already inside the lake. The Nogtail had already disappeared down the water.

While Draco decided what to do and contemplated whether Hermione knew how to swim or not, Hermione came out of the lake. Fortunately, the part of the lake she'd fell in was really shallow and she knew how to swim. The water had been ice-cold and she was violently shivering. She shed her heavy robe. When she turned to ask Malfoy where the Nogtail went, she saw that he was staring at her while wearing a very odd look. One she hadn't ever seen grace his features. Hermione couldn't for the life of her, figure out what it was.

Draco watched as she came out but that turned out to be a mistake for him because he couldn't look away after that.

Every inch of her body was dripping wet. Her hair, now soaked was limp and it was now Draco noticed that they it was quite long. Her clothes clung to her body and Merlin, did she have a killer figure. Who knew she was hiding that under the hideous school inform. Draco gulped. She was so close to him now that he could see how long her eyelashes were. It was then that Draco Malfoy acted on impulse.

Because Hermione Granger looked so irresistible, he couldn't stand it. He couldn't help what he did next. He kissed her.

Switching off the logical and well-functioning part of his brain, Draco pulled Hermione close to him and planted his lips on her wet ones. Initially, Hermione froze of shock then got over herself and kissed him back as desire took over her body. The kiss was gentle and hesitant at first (Hermione having no idea Draco was capable of those two things) but then the kiss grew more urgent and passionate. Hermione put her hands around his neck while Draco slid his arms to her waist, pulling her closer. The heat both of their bodies were emitting was inescapable.

His heavenly scent and soft lips were overwhelming Hermione. She felt tingly all over and her heart was hammering against her chest. She never wanted this to stop. And it didn't look like Draco had any intention of doing that anytime soon.

The mere feel of her body and lips against his was doing things to Draco he had never felt before. He felt alive. And amazing. He felt like living in this moment forever. Yeah sure, it sounded awfully cheesy but well, it was the truth.

The inevitable had finally happened.

Draco reluctantly pulled away when he finally noticed Hermione was still dripping wet and shivering uncontrollably. Somehow, both of them had forgotten about that part.

Hermione felt his lips leave hers and she looked up to see lust and similar emotions swirling in his now tender grey eyes. They looked a little bit glazed as well.

"Draco," she breathed.

"Are you cold?" he asked softly.

Hermione didn't even notice how stupid his question was. Well, obviously she was cold! But she merely nodded.

His grip on her loosened and eventually his arms left her waist. Then without a word, he wrapped his cloak around her body but she was still shivering.

Draco sighed and said, "Come on. We should get back."

Hermione didn't argue and both of them made their way toward the castle.

They were both startled when they reached the steps because Professor Dumbledore materialized out of nowhere.

"Oh!" he exclaimed when he saw them, "Now this is an odd sight!"

Draco and Hermione stared at the old man in bewilderment while they struggled for words.

_Damn, _thought Draco, _why are his bloody eyes always twinkling like that? _

Dumbledore smiled at them knowingly and said, "No need to explain yourselves. I witnessed everything and you two are at no fault."

When he said _everything, _it was clear he meant _everything. _Draco and Hermione blushed to the roots of their hair as they realized that.

"Sir, the Nogtail –" started Hermione, in a hurry to change the topic.

Dumbledore put his palms forward and said in a reassuring way, "You need not worry, Ms Granger. The Nogtail will be taken care of."

Hermione nodded while chewing on her lower lip nervously.

"Now," said Dumbledore, "I think you should turn in for the night. Mr Malfoy, your gentlemanly services are no longer needed. I will escort Ms Granger to the Hospital Wing. I reckon a small dose of Pepper-Up potion should do the trick and Ms Granger will be as good as new tomorrow."

Dumbledore smiled pleasantly at Draco and said, "Goodnight, Draco. Sweet dreams."

"Uh, thank you Sir," said Draco uncertainly, "You too."

Then Dumbledore and Hermione took his leave while he stood there like an idiot. After shaking himself out of it, Draco decided to hit the sack. He was exhausted.

He grinned to himself as he headed for the dungeons.

Remind him to thank the Nogtail the next time he saw it.

* * *

"Hermione! Are you okay?" cried Ginny, as she burst through the door of the Hospital Wing. She was followed by a harried Ron and Harry.

Harry immediately started to ramble, "I heard what happened, Hermione. I'm so sorry. I forgot to tell you about Hagrid's Nogtail. I swear I was going to but it completely slipped my mind!"

"Mine too," added Ron, "I knew about Piggy but I just got so preoccupied with Divination homework that I forgot!"

Hermione smiled and said, "Guys, it's all right."

Ron stared at her while Harry wore a puzzled expression. They had landed her in the hospital, how in Merlin's bloody name was it alright?

"Are you sure? You're not mad?" asked Harry slowly.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Yes, Harry. It _is _alright and I'm not mad."

"Hermione, you don't need to forgive them so easily. They should've told you," said Ginny seriously, "I could perform the Bat-Bogey Hex on them if you want."

Hey!" cried Harry.

"I'm your brother!" exclaimed Ron disbelievingly.

Hermione laughed pleasantly. She was in a really good mood. "No, Ginny. It really is all right. I forgive them. It wasn't so bad. In fact, the night turned out great," said Hermione in a slightly dreamy and secretive way.

Harry, Ron and Ginny stared at her, contemplating whether she had been bonked in the head. How was patrolling with a certain nasty Draco Malfoy, chasing a lost Nogtail, falling inside the Black Lake then getting caught by the Headmaster a night turned out great?

They could only wonder.

* * *

**A/N: Don't forget to review, okay? It's for my birthday! :D **


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